How to move WhatsApp to the SD card

How to move WhatsApp to the SD cardYou have so many apps installed on your Android smartphone that you fear it could collapse? Do not worry, it is a common feeling and today we will discover together a solution to this problem. It is often WhatsApp who take a lot of space on our smartphone memory, so we may need to move it to the SD card.

If you have tried to solve this problem by looking to WhatsApp f.a.q., you surely have found this not very encouraging sentence:  “Moving WhatsApp to your memory card (microSD card) is not possible at this time. We are working on improving our application size and memory utilization. There are technical hurdles that do not allow us to move our application to the microSD card. In the meantime, we recommend that you help make room for WhatsApp by moving as many other applications and media files as you can, to your microSD card.” But despite their statement, we think that there actually is a solution.

The following short guide is valid for many Android devices. But it is important to know that sometimes the producers put limitations. In that case, you will need root permissions to move the app. If you still have problems, you can do that anyway using Titanium Backup or Link2SD. First of all, you need a PC with Windows connected to the Internet and your smartphone USB cable. The procedure is quite simple and involves the use of ADB to move apps to the external SD card of your Android smartphone.

But let’s see how to do it. Go to Settings -> Developer Options and enable the option “Usb Debug”. Now download and save on your C: the last SDK Android version from this page, being very careful to rename the folder as a “adt”. At this point, you have to download and install the drivers for your device from here. Now connect your smartphone to the PC and open the Prompt application.

Open the folder containing the SDK by typing “cd\ adt“. Open the folder containing the adb.exe and type “cd sdk\platform-tools“. Now we have to check whether our phone has been properly recognized by typing the command “adb devices -l” ;if not, disconnect and reconnect the smartphone or reinstall the driver. Now, after typing  “adb shell“, you will see a window opening.

Now we can move the app by typing the command “pm set-install-location 2” or, in case of error, “setInstallLocation 2 pm”. Now we have to disconnect the device, open Settings -> Application Management -> and then select Whatsapp. Now you will note that the button “Move SD Card” is enabled: select it and wait for the procedure to end. That’s it, procedure completed!

WhatsApp voice calling feature: how much does it cost?

whatsapp callingEven if you don’t use it, you have to admit that WhatsApp managed to take full advantage of all the benefits provided by the advent of exchanging data through our phones. In fatc, WhatsApp is now the first messaging system, having replaced the use of SMS after over a decade of unchallenged rule. Being able to send images, photos, videos, almost for free against, marked the turning point in the way of communication between people.

It seems that now we are even forgetting Skype. Together with WhatsApp a lot of other apps have seen the light, but none (until now) with the same success. Even Google, with Hangout, wasn’t able to depose WhatsApp from the top. Facebook, on the other hand, was far-sighted, and decided to buy it.

Now, as you probably know, all Android users can make their phone calls via WhatsApp. So not just chats, but real phone calls. The App, to enable this feature, should do the upgrade automatically, if not, you can always manually request the upgrade to version 2.12.19, which will also enable calls. This feature will soon be a reality also on iOS. But how much does it cost?

Now, we usually say that millions of people will be able to make their calls “for free“. To chat with WhatsApp you don’t have to pay as you had to to send SMS or MMS. You pay only for the internet traffic. And for your calls it will be the same thing, because they are Voip calls. In fact, calling via WhatsApp, you will not consume minutes of telephone traffic but only your Internet traffic. There may be problems if you don’t have a good connection, in fact in that case the quality of your calls could be poor.

But how much of your internet traffic is consumed using WhatsApp for a call? If you use a WiFi, you will not consume a penny of the internet traffic linked to the smartphone. But, instead, let’s see how much traffic we use to make our calls if we are connected to the mobile cellular network. For every minute of conversation, WhatsApp uses about 540KB. So, for a phone call of 10 minutes about 5.4MB and for a call of an hour about 32MB. So it is not that expensive.

Other apps already offered Voip phone calls, but given the success of WhatsApp we are sure that now phone calls via the internet will become a habit.

How to use WhatsApp on iPad

How to use WhatsApp on iPadYou want to install WhatsApp on your iPad but can not find it in the App Store. Why? Because WhatsApp is available only on smartphones and its use on tablets is not yet officially supported. But we have found some tricks to do it anyway.

If you have an iPad with iOS 7.0 or higher (any model), and an iPhone that already has WhatsApp Messenger, you can transfer the application to your tablet through the jailbreak (the procedure used to unlock Apple devices and install unofficial software). The procedure is a little bit difficult and requires time, but if you really want WhatsApp on your iPad it is the only thing to do.

First af all, before installing WhatsApp on your iPad, you have to unlock your tablet by performing the jailbreak on it, and, depending on the iOS version installed on the device, you have to download a different software. Even with different softwares, the procedure for the jailbreak is almost always the same. In most cases, you simply have to start the program (a simple .exe) and click a button. At this point, you need to find out which iOS version is installed on your device, so press the Settings icon > General > Menu info, here you will find the number placed next to “Version”.

If you are using a version of iOS between the 7.0 and 7.06, you must download Evasion by connecting to the website of the software and click the Download button. When the download is completed, open the file you just downloaded and start the file evasi0n7_Setup (1).exe contained in it and launch the installation process of Evasion. Now, you have a new window opened. From here click first on Accept to accept the terms of use of the program and then Decline to avoid downloading software offers.

At this point you just have to wait for all the elements needed for the installation of Evasions to be downloaded on your PC. After that, it will start automatically. Now you can connect your iPad to the computer, and when Evasion finds it, click on the Jailbreak button. During this phase be careful not to accept proposals to update iOS.
The process to unlock the terminal will go on for a few minutes, until you will see this message: To continue, please unlock your device and tap the new “evasion7” icon. From here, you have to open the home screen of your iPad and click on Evasion from the Springboard.

Be patient for a few more minutes, when you are asked to log in again from the home page of your iPad (you will read: To continue, please unlock your device) and the procedure to unlock your device will be completed. From Evasion, when you read: Done! click on Exit to close the application. On the iPad, however, after disconnecting the device from the computer, you have to wait for the latter to process the files of the jailbreak. It will take a few seconds, during which you will see a white screen with the logo of Evasion in the middle.

Users of iOS versions between the 8.0 and the 8.1 will have to follow another procedure and use Taig. It is easy to download, simply connecting to the site and clicking on Download Taig Jailbreak Tool. Users of this versions can also use PanGu, which is quite similar to Taig.

After the jailbreak, you have to use Cydia, which is an alternative store for iOS, available only on unlocked devices. Cydia will ask you if you are a standard user, a developer or a hacker. Choose the first option and go to the Search section of the store where you can find WhatsPad, which is a small software that will allow you to unlock the use of WhatsApp on your iPad. Now select WhatsPad and click on Install, then Confirm and Restart the Springboard. At this point you must extract the application from an iPhone backup and transfer it on your tablet using a program called iFunBox (it is free).

To download it on your PC, connect to its website and click first on the download button for Windows (also available for Mac) and then on the first link.zip. When the download is completed, open by double clicking on it the file you just downloaded and extract the files contained in any folder. Later you will need the software. Now open the folder where are contained the files of the iTunes library (\iTunes Music\Mobile Applications) and copy on the desktop WhatsApp x.x.x.ipa.

Now connect the iPad to the computer, launch the program iFunBox2014.exe and click Install app. Select the ipa package of WhatsApp and wait while the latter is transferred to the tablet. When the operation is completed, start WhatsApp Messenger from the home page of your iPad, enter the phone number of your iPhone and click the Finish button (located at the top right). After that, you can choose whether to restore your conversations from iCloud and start using the app normally.

WhatsApp: WhatsMac is finally arrived

whatsapp for macUntil now WhatsApp, the famous messaging service, was available for Android, Windows phone, iPhone and BlackBerry users. Now, thanks to a new free app called WhatsMac, you can chat through WhatsApp directly from OS X. This new app is completely free and Open Source.

Furthermore, WhatsMac allows you to use WhatsApp as usual, to chat, to send and receive audio, video, images and text. If you are eager (or just curious) to download WhatsMac, you can download it for free from this page. So, if you are addicted to WhatsApp and use your Mac for the most part of the day, this could be the right thing for you. Even if it is important to keep in mind that, for the moment, this is not an official app. Anyway, it provides a good user interface to work with.

So many users were waiting for this kind of development, but, as with most things, there is a little downside. In fact, it seems that iPhone users won’t be able to use WhatsMac, at least not immediately, because it does not work on iPhone. But luckily there is a solution (actually, two). While to enable WhatsMac, Android and Windows Phone users will have to scan the QR code, for iPhone users it is a little bit more complicated. But, as we said, they have two options.

With Jailbreak. If you have the jailbreak, you have to open Cydia and download WhatsApp Web Enabler from BigBoss repo. From here, just open Settings where you can find WhatsApp Web Enabler and, at this point, enable it. From now on, when you start WhatsApp on your iPhone, all you have to do is to scan the QR code by tapping Settings in the lower right, selecting WhatsApp Web and pointing the camera of your phone toward the Mac after opening web.whatsapp.com on Safari.

Without Jailbreak. Alternatively, you can use on your Mac an emulator like BlueStacks Android (it is still possible to find on the web the Beta version for Mac) or Arc Welder, a Chrome extension that allows you to launch Android apps.

How to secure WhatsApp

how to secure whatsappAs we know the success of WhatsApp, one of the most complete and popular messaging applications, is constantly growing. This famous app has now an incredible number (more than 700 million!) of monthly active members with, as you can imagine, a huge traffic of information shared between them. For this reason, we think that you will find the following security tips of some use.

1. WhatsApp Lock – WhatsApp Lock is an extremely useful application to avoid nosy people. After installing this app, you will be asked to set a 4-digit PIN. But perhaps the most interesting feature of this app is that it automatically takes a photo from the camera if someone digits the wrong PIN, letting you know immediately who tried to use your device.

2. Hide “last seen” timestamp – WhatsApp usually shows to our contacts the last time we were online. But there is a way to disable this default option. If you use an Android device: go to Settings -> Accounts> Privacy -> Hide last access time. On iOS: go to Settings -> Chat- Settings> Advanced> Hide access time. But remember that if you turn it off, you won’t be able to see other users’ “last seen” times either.

3. Prevent photos and media files received from appearing in the phone’s main gallery. You may prefer not to see pictures received while chatting in the main gallery of the phone. To help you, there is a simply method that can block such function. Android users can use File Explorer and create a file called “.nomedia” in WhatsApp images folder. This file will stop Android’s Gallery from scanning the folder. For users of Apple operating systems (iOS and other devices) it is even easier: just go to Settings-> Privacy-> Photos.

4. Create shorcuts with your most important contacts – This is a very useful option if you frequently chat with the same peaple. In fact, with this function WhatsApp allows you to create shortcuts on the home page. If you use an Android device, just select the contacts you want on the home page, press them and then choose “create shortcut”. If you use iOS, unfortunately, this operating system this function is not provided. But you can always use the app 1TapWA to have a similar function.

5. Profile picture – If you use the same picture on Twitter, Linkedin or your website, and even on WhatsApp, it could be very easy to find more about you through Google Image search. To restrict the access to your profile picture, set it to “contacts only” from the Privacy menu.

6. Disactivate WhatsApp – If you lose your phone WhatsApp offers you a range of options to protect your account. Among others, WhatsApp suggests that you immediately activate the app with the same phone number on another phone, with a replacement SIM. In this way, you will immediately block it from being usen on your lost phone.

WhatsApp Voice Calling feature soon available for Windows Phone users?

WhatsApp Windows Phone voice callDuring the last few weeks WhatsApp has introduced Voip voice calls. This very expected feature, for the moment, is only available for Android users but it seems that also Windows Phone will soon have this important update available. In fact during the last hours we have seen explicit references to voice calls in WhatsApp for Windows Phone in the files sent for translation by the development team to the many translators who work for them.

It already happened in recent months, when the team of WhatsApp had asked their translators the translation of various texts with references to voice calls. But for now we still do not know when exactly there will be the rollout. Over the next few weeks, the development team should introduce this feature in the private beta of WhatsApp for Windows Phone and, only after an appropriate period of testing, voice calls will debut in the stable version of the application for smartphones with the Microsoft mobile operating system.

In any case, aso on Wihdows Phone, WhatsApp will have to face important competitors like Skype of Viber, who already have well developed and successful applications in the field of Voip calls. Both Skype and Viber can count on a large number of users who daily benefit of their services.And we suppose that Windows Phone users will be pleased to have this new service on their smartphone. Surely we will have more details about the debut of voice calls on WhatsApp for Windows Phone in the coming days.

If you have any doubts about the success of the Californian application, remember these data: recently this famous instant messaging service has reached the milestone of 800 million active users per month. Despite numerous alternatives to WhatsApp as Viber, Line or wechat, the app acquired by Zuckerberg is showing a strong performance.

The latest statistics on the use of the service were spread in January 2015 when Jan Koum, the company’s CEO, on his Facebook profile had announced the milestone of 700 million active users per month and more than 30 billion messages sent every day.

How to use WhatsApp on iPhone

How to use WhatsApp on iPhoneWhatsApp is an app that allows users to chat for free with their contacts. This messaging service provides the ability to send and receive unlimited messages at no cost via the internet, simply using the 3G connection or Wi-fi smartphones. WhatsApp is available for different operating systems such as iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

Installation: We can download WhatsApp simply accessing the App Store directly from our iPhone. After the purchase, the download will start automatically and we just have to wait for the installation to be completed.

How to start WhatsApp: When you open the application for the first time, WhatsApp will ask your mobile number in order to create a unique account without the need for additional entry as a user name or password. WhatsApp Messenger then analyzes your telehone book to find among your contacts the ones who are already using the application, to automatically create a list, called Favorites. To access the list, simply click on the pencil-shaped icon that is at the top right of the screen. Each WhatsApp contact will be displayed with the same name given in the address book of the iPhone, together with a picture and a status.

Sending messages: To send a message with WhatsApp, we have to select a contact from the Favorites list, then we can write the message we want to send in the text box which appears at the bottom and, at this point, we can press the Send button. The message is displayed in a cloud, like the ones used in comic books, where you will see a green tick mark as soon as the server receives it. With a second green tick mark next to the first, WhatsApp indicates that the recipient has received the message.

It is also possible to start a conversation between several people, creating a group chat using the option New Group. As for incoming messages, WhatsApp supports push notifications, so you don’t have to keep the application open to receive them.

Other features: WhatsApp Messenger for iPhone is not only a free alternative to SMS. In fact with WhatsApp you can share images, photos and videos simply by attaching them to your messages. And that’s not all. You can also set different backgrounds for your chat and customize the sound of the notifications, besides the possibility to change your status and upload a profile picture. But pay attention: WhatsApp Messenger is compatible with iOS 4.3 operating systems or higher and can not be downloaded if you own an iPhone with a previous version.

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to chat, WhatsApp is the right chat for  you. It also does not have any additional costs after purchase. Furthermore, WhatsApp allows considerable savings compared to SMS. The important thing is to have a subscription that allows you to be always connected to the internet.

The latest version for iPhone provides the possibility to disable the double blue tick marks that confirm the recipient has read the message. To use this option just open the privacy menu and turn off the “Read Receipt”. Moreover, as for Android, you can make voice calls through the data network.