WhatsApp has just updated its functions to improve the user experience in the popular messaging app. The main novelty that WhatsApp presented is the new text formats. But, in recent weeks it has also announced that it is testing new options that increase privacy. Let's go discover them.
Goodbye to plain text
Surely you've ever wanted to list a to-do list, share an excerpt from a book, or send a little code to your programmer friends. Well, with this latest update it is now possible. WhatsApp has listened to your requests (and those of many other users) and incorporates new and interesting text formats:
New text formats in WhatsApp
- Numbered lists- They are perfect for sharing step-by-step instructions, like a cooking recipe. To create a numbered list, simply type the number "1." followed by a space before starting your first line of text. Then, on the next line write "2." with a space and so on to number the items in the list.
- Bulleted lists: can be very useful for making quick unnumbered lists like the grocery list. There are two ways to make bulleted lists. The first is by writing a hyphen "-" followed by a space before each element. The second is using an asterisk "*" with a space. When you send the message, you will see that bulleted lists have been formed.
- Verbatim quotes: If you want to cite a text or highlight a fragment, place the "greater than" symbol ">" followed by a space before writing the textual quote.
- Custom code– This is a perfect option for developers or when you want to share lines of code. You just have to enclose the text between grave accents ` (the same symbol at the beginning and at the end). This will display the text in a monospaced style.
These new text formats are now available in the latest WhatsApp update for Android and iOS.
In addition to these new formats, You can continue using the already known ones such as bold, italic, strikethrough and monospace.
The existing formats are used like this:
- Bold: To make text bold, enclose it between two asterisks ** ** without leaving spaces. Example: Bold text.
- Italics: Use underscores _ _ at the beginning and end of the word or phrase you want to italicize. Example: Italics.
- Strikethrough: Place the ~ ~ (tilt) symbol before and after the text you want to strikethrough. Example: Strikethrough
- Monospace: Put three single backticks before and after the text like this: «`text«`
Now, with the new addition of formats, we have more possibilities at our disposal.
More privacy on WhatsApp
But it's not just new text formats that arrive. WhatsApp is also working on improving privacy in its mobile app through the function Privacy Review with which you can configure your privacy to your liking. With Privacy Review, you decide who can contact you, what personal information you share, when you are available, plus you can give your chats more privacy and more protection for your account.
Added to all this, WhatsApp is testing a very interesting feature in its beta version- Prevent other users from taking screenshots of your profile photos.
Thus, you will have more control over who can or cannot save your profile image. Without a doubt, a very welcome improvement in terms of privacy. It is expected to reach all users soon.
What do you think of the news? Of course, they give a fresh air to the veteran messaging app and put it at the level of other more modern chat platforms. We love new text formats: goodbye to monotonous messages!