my favorite WhatsApp feature is called “Starred Messages” and I can’t live without it

WhatsApp has a handful of interesting features, such as video calls, stickers or mute the family group that is only used to send good morning images. Little by little, WhatsApp is evolving to add new things, such as animated stickers or video calls with up to eight people, but none of these functions compare to my favorite: featured messages.

Featured messages have been on WhatsApp for so long, frankly, I don’t remember when I started using them. I discovered them by chance, from this you leave a message pressed to forward it to another person and you realize that in the options that are displayed there is a little star that you do not know what it is for. They were simpler times, when WhatsApp had no statuses and such. Since that moment, which happened many years ago, prominent messages have become essential in my day-to-day life.

Don’t ask, highlight the message (please)

For better or for worse, WhatsApp is the tool I use every day to communicate with my friends and family. As such, most of the online interactions with my inner circle take place on WhatsApp and, therefore, is the app in which I speak everything: where are we going to stay, what are we going to do, what do I have to buy for the pot on Saturday or where is the house of this or that person.

The problem is that we have this ugly habit of talk about important things in groups with 20 or 30 people, and of course, important things end up drowned in a sea of ​​messages full of “hahaha”, “then what time are we meeting”, “someone sums up” and the stickers of the typical friend who is always sending memes and who contributes little or nothing to the conversation.

And of course, if it turns out that the friend whose house you are going to go on Saturday has sent the location of his house at the beginning of the chat, then good luck finding the message. And let’s see, I understand, it’s easier to ask “Hey, do you have the location of Paquito’s house that you’ve already sent 30 times and that keeps getting lost in the depths of this group?” to scroll 3,876 unread messages. Solution to this problem? The featured messages (and do not take screenshots, please, we are not animals).

And what are starred messages? A knowledge vault, a place to store everything important and separate the wheat from the chaff, that place full of calm and order where you can quickly find the message that contains the information you need. The true health, the tranquility. You just have to press and hold the message you want to save, press the star and voila !, the message will be saved in the “Featured messages” section and it will be safe (unless you delete the chat or the group, of course).

I use it to save locations (pro tip: save them later in a list on Google Maps), the WiFi passwords of the houses I am visiting, recommendations of places to eat or visit, links to articles or websites that my friends share and, in short, everything that is always good to have on hand. When I need to remember something quick, it is easier to go to the starred messages than to browse through the entire history.

In Telegram, in case anyone uses it more than WhatsApp, I use the “Saved messages” and private channels, which are ideal for storing photos without losing quality or things heavier than a simple text message, a photo or an audio note. And one thing I tell you: my kingdom for having channels and folders on WhatsApp like the ones on Telegram, I release the idea there on the air.

Definitely, give starred posts a try. They are a great way not to lose important messages and to always have them all at hand. And they are free. And they avoid having to ask the same thing 30 times for a WhatsApp group.

This article is part of a weekly section by Jose García dedicated to approaching technology from a more relaxed, personal and informal point of view that we publish in SamaGame every Saturday.