Text messaging

Now that you've downloaded WhatsApp and created an account, you're ready to start sending messages, photos, and more. In order to message someone, that person will need to be in your phone's contacts and will need to also have a WhatsApp account . You'll also need an Internet connection of some kind, whether it's through your cellular network or a Wi-Fi connection.

When you open WhatsApp, the Chats pane appears by default. On this pane, you'll be able to see all of your recent conversations .

To begin a conversation, you can either tap someone's name or tap the pen/paper icon in the top-right corner of the screen and select a contact.

The chat interface

The chat pane is where you can send messages, photos, documents, audio messages, and more.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the parts of the chat interface .

edit hotspots

Call

Tap the call button to start a voice call with someone. If the contact doesn't answer, you can leave a voice message .

Back Button

Tap the back button to return to the chats pane and view all of your other conversations.

Conversation

This is where your conversation will be displayed, including any messages, photos, documents, and more that you've sent and received.

Forward Button

Tap the forward button to forward a photo or document to another person.

Read Receipt Icon

The read receipt icon will appear once the recipient has opened and read your message. If there is no icon shown, this means the person has not yet read your message; the contact also may have read receipts disabled.

Voice Message Button

Hold down the voice message button to record a voice message. Release the icon when you're done and the voice message will be sent.

Take Photo or Video

Tap the take photo or video icon to take a photo or video or to send photos from your library.

Send Media Button

Tap the send media button to share documents, your location, or contacts with someone. You can also take a picture or video from here, as well as send pictures and videos from your library.

Text Bar

Tap the text bar to bring up your keyboard. From here, you can type messages and send them.

Texting with WhatsApp

Once you've opened a conversation, sending a text message is easy.

1. Tap the text bar at the bottom of the screen.
   
2. Your keyboard will appear. Type the message you want to send, then tap the send button.
   
3. Your message will be sent.
   

In our next lesson , we'll go over how to make voice calls using WhatsApp!