WeChat: The Hidden Features [Part 1]
9 Minute Read
• None of is living in China could live without WeChat. But do we make the most of it? It hasn't always been the most intuitive software to use - but in the last few years Tencent have really upped there game. You might not have discovered all the new WeChat features that can make your life easier.
• We're going to cover the basic features today - from the obvious, to little tricks you might not know about. And in a second article the indepth life hacks that WeChat can provide. Let's get started.
Edit your WeChat Moments
If you have the latest version of WeChat, this feature allows you to edit posts that have already been posted. Simply delete your original post on moments and the banner 'You deleted a Moments post Edit' will appear. Click the 'edit' link and your original post with be available to edit and update instead of reposting. Handy when you want to enhance your photo, correct a typo, edit text or even adding more photos etc.
Turn off Notifications
What you will quickly discover in WeChat is that you will be included in lots of big groups that, while often very useful, can be very active and leave you with hundreds of notifications if you leave your phone for 10 minutes! So, it is sometimes useful to turn off notifications for certain groups or chats.
Open the chat and select the chat information icon (located at the top right of the screen). Then enable Mute Notifications.
Alternatively, you can select ‘Night Mode’ which will turn off all notifications between the hours of 22:00 and 08:00 so you can get a peaceful night’s sleep. Go to Me > Settings > Message Notifications > Other Feature Alerts, and finally select ‘Night Mode’.
Search Function
The search function can be very useful in lots of different ways! You can use it to search for Official Accounts, articles, moments, chat history, WeChat IDs and more.
Under the ‘Chats’ tab, scroll up and the search bar should appear.
If you want to find something from a specific chat that you can’t find using the general search then you can also enter the chat and press the group information icon (located at the top right of the screen) then select ‘Search History’.
Translate Text
Sometimes you will get messages in Chinese and, unless you can read Chinese characters fluently, this can be a problem. So, WeChat has added this feature that will translate messages for you.
Press and hold on the message you want to translate and then select the right arrow and then press 'Translate' and it will automatically translate the message.
Scan and Translate
Can’t read the instructions or menus in China?
China’s most popular social platform offers AR-based real-time translation.
This feature can be accessed from the scan feature in the upright corner, which is regularly used to scan QR codes.
To use the real-time translator, simply capture an image of anything with either Chinese or English text in it, operating on a point and translate model.
First, go to the + sign > Scan > Translate, Then take a photo to translate or select a photo from your gallery. Finally, wait for the text to be translated and understand the text in English.
Currently, WeChat Translate only supports Chinese and English, it works similarly to the Waygo App, which was designed to help non-Chinese speakers translate food menus and signs. An indication that WeChat wants to appeal to foreign users and tourists living in China.
WeChat’s trend of taking successful features from apps and integrating the technology into their platform shows their ambition to grow and compete with US tech giants: Google, Snapchat and Instagram. However, WeChat still has a long way to go to reach the levels of Google translate augmented reality feature which now supports 30 languages.
Translate Image Text
"Translate Image Text" is another cool new hidden feature that you will want to know. Instead of scanning and translating you can now choose any image that you have in either your phone gallery or chat and long-press until the menu appears with the option of translate image to text.
Moments: Text Only
WeChat has made uploading pictures to your moments simple, however, it is less clear and not as well known that you can post text-only updates.
Select ‘Moments’ under the ‘Discover’ tab, then press and hold the camera icon until a text box appears. Then you simply post your message (text + up to 9 pictures).
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