The very first thing you need to know is that WhatsApp has no adverts and is free for the very first year of use. It’ll cost ninety nine cents a year after that. Now that we’ve covered costs, download the mobile app on your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows device.

Once installed and loaded, you’ll be asked to come in your mobile phone number. WhatsApp needs your actual number because it routes files and messages inbetween you and your contacts similar to how an SMS system would.

WhatsApp has a menu bar that runs along the bottom of all the screens within the app. It has the following five tabs: Favourites, Recents, Contacts, Talks, and Settings. Tap on any tab in order to access a fresh screen and its related features and settings.

The Favourites screen should pre-load any of your phone contacts who have installed WhatsApp, but you can tap the "+" symbol in the upper right-hand corner to add more contacts. Alternatively, you can tap "Edit" in the left corner to begin deleting contacts from Favourites.

Moving onward. the Recents screen shows all your placed and missed WhatsApp calls (permits you to clear them as well). The next tab on the menu bar is for Contacts, and it’s where you should go to browse through your phone contacts and maybe invite them to join WhatsApp.

The fourth tab is for Talks. It’s a running log of all your active messages. Tap the draft symbol in the upper right-hand corner to embark a fresh talk with a single friend, or you can tap "Fresh Group" to commence a group talk with up to one hundred people at once. Every group has one or more admins.

You might also notice a feature called Broadcast Lists under Talks. Broadcasting messaging lets you send a message to many people at once, without exposing the recipients. It’s kinda like bcc (blind carbon copy) from email, and each recipient can react to you individually.

The capability to create Broadcast Lists enables you to preserve a saved list of contacts to whom you send Broadcast Messages. To send a Broadcast Message to a specific contact, that person must have your phone number saved in their address book.

The fifth and final tab is Settings. Under this screen, you’ll find privacy options, ways to switch your notification alerts, network usage stats, a implement for archiving talks, and a place to connect your Facebook account, among many other things.

While in a talk window with a friend or group, you can send anything from photos to audio files. Tap in the text field at the bottom of the talk to bring up a keyboard and inject a message, or tap the arrow symbol on the left for more options.

The arrow should bring up options to take a photo/movie or send one from your library as well as share a location or a contact. You can also send or take a photo by tapping the camera symbol found on the right side of the text field in talk.

Also on the right side of the text field is a mic symbol that you can tap in order to record and send an audio message.

And eventually, in the top right-hand corner of any talk window, you’ll see a dialer symbol. Simply click it to phone the contact you’re talking with, or don’t. WhatsApp Calling uses your phone’s internet connection rather than your cellular plan’s voice minutes (so data charges may apply).

To learn more about how WhatsApp works, check out the app’s FAQ page. We’ve also detailed some tips and tricks below.

Are there any tips and tricks?

Of course. Here’s a few WhatsApp tips and tricks worth checking out.

Five Use WhatsApp on the web

WhatsApp isn’t limited to your mobile phone. There’s a web app that syncs everything from your phone. If you have the Chrome browser installed on your computer, go to the WhatsApp Web page, scan the QR code, and go after the instructions for your phone. The web app doesn’t work for iOS devices, but for all others, it’ll serve up talks and alerts on your computer.

6 Protect your talks with a passcode

WhatsApp doesn’t let you protect talks from snoopers, but third-party apps on Android will let you enable a password or PIN. Attempt Messenger and Talk Block, AppLock, or Clever AppLock. On Windows Phone, there’s WhatsApp Locker, and on BlackBerry, you can attempt Lock for Whats Messenger.

7 Hide timestamps, read receipts, and more

When you look at a talk window or even a contact within WhatsApp, you’ll often see a "Last Seen" timestamp under his or her name. It’s a handy little indicator for when the contact last checked WhatsApp. If you don’t want people to see when exactly you’re using WhatsApp, you can hide your Last Seen timestamp. Just go to Settings, then Account, and Privacy.

Be sure to toggle Last Seen to "Nobody", but doing so will also prevent you from being able to see everybody’s last seen time. Under this section, you will also see that you can hide your profile photo, status, and read receipts. You can even manage your list of blocked contacts.

Archive Talk permits you to hide a conversation from your Talks screen. It does not delete the talk nor does it back up the talk to your SD card. It simply organises your conversations. You can archive groups or individual talks, and they always emerge at the bottom of your Talks screen.

To archive all talks, go to Settings, then scroll down, and select Archive All Talks. You can also clear all talks from this same section.

When you switch to a fresh phone, you can take your WhatsApp talk history with you. Just go to Settings within the iPhone app, then tap Talk Settings, and select Talk Backup. From there, back up the talk now or turn on Auto Backup to iCloud. You can restore your talks when you reinstall WhatsApp on the fresh phone.

If you use a microSD card with an Android go to Menu, then Settings, and Talk Settings. From there, select Backup conversations, and then be sure to budge the microSD card over to the fresh phone. You’ll also need to reinstall WhatsApp and Restore when prompted.

If the backup is on internal storage, you can use a file explorer to find and by hand stir contents in the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder. Simples.

Ten Determine when your sent message was read

Check marks show up next to each message you send. One grey check mark indicates to you that the message was successfully sent to the recipient, while two grey check marks indicatex when the message was successfully delivered to the recipient’s phone. Two blue check marks alerts you when the recipient has read your message.

But did you know you can find out a little extra detail about your sent messages? Just tap and hold on the message, and then tap the Info option in order to get message details like the precise time it was delivered and read. In iOS, you can also just tap and haul the message to the left.

11 Stop incoming media from automatically saving

By default, for whatever reason, WhatsApp automatically saves pictures and movies from recipients to the Camera Roll on iOS devices or in Gallery or Photos app on Android. You can stop this by going to Settings and then Talk Settings. From there, toggle off "Saving Incoming Media".

12 Mute group notifications

Group conversations can be the worst. You might not be able to leave the conversation, but you can mute notifications so you aren’t awakened every time someone throws in their two cents. If you’re using an iPhone, just open the group talk, tap the subject to get the Group Info screen, and then tap Mute. In Android, open the talk, then tap the Menu button, and tap Mute. You can specify a time period or turn off notifications permanently.

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