WeChat. How could we live without you? Used by practically everyone connected to the internet, it’s not hard to see why this app is the number one app in China. But are you using it to its full potential?
Here are some of our favorite and lesser-known WeChat functions:
This is probably my new favorite recently discovered feature: sending voice messages is very convenient for the sender – but can be very inconvenient for the listener. Well, good news for you: you can hold down the voice recording and WeChat can translate the voice messages into written language. It's not 100 percent correct all of the time, it does its best, and for a machine, it does a darn good job.
However (and this is a big however) unfortunately this feature is only available on the Chinese version of the app, and can only write in Chinese. Still, it's very useful if you have a lot of Chinese friends!
A convenient feature used daily by many Chinese locals. Gone are the days when you had to screenshot entire conversations that you send onto other friends. Just press and hold on a message, select the messages you want to send and you’ve got yourself a condensed chat history that you can forward on to your heart’s content.
If you haven’t yet tried this feature out, grab your phone and have a play around. It should be the first option in your sticker set. Pull a funny face, film your friend doing something stupid, add some even stupider text and bingo.
This feature gets dangerously addictive though. Use with caution.
Location sharing is something used widely amongst expats and Chinese locals alike, but did you know this feature does so much more than just send your immediate location? You can use the send location feature almost like a map, typing in the address or name of the restaurant/bar your friend is nagging you for.
Location sharing also has a ‘live location sharing’ feature, which allows you and your friend to share live locations. You can also send voice messages whilst in a live location-sharing session, like a phone call.
Sending short clips via WeChat’s inbuilt camera app is something not new to anybody, but did you know that if you hold down that circular button and push your thumb upwards, it zooms in? Pull your thumb back down and it zooms back out again. This makes for great funny clips. This feature is available on most Chinese apps with in-built cameras, and also conveniently, the Create a Sticker function. Sorry, we couldn't figure out how to take a screenshot of this one while also doing it... any suggestions?
Other services you should be checking out if you haven’t already started using them are found in your ‘Wallet’ section. This includes bargain shopping, getting a DiDi taxi, getting a shared bike, buying train tickets, and topping up your phone. And much, much more!
READ: WeChat Contacts You Need to Add, Pt. 1
Photos: Giphy, Zoe Stephens
It seems you have an extremely broad definition of "necessary." One that strays far indeed into the turf typically occupied by "convenience."
As Harold Godwine boasted, he gave Harald Hardrada all the land of England he needed: "Six ells, or perhaps it was seven, seeing that Harald was taller than most men." Modest expectations are more becoming, eh?
