BDM’s WhatsApp Guides & Tips

At its heart, WhatsApp is simply a free to use cross-platform instant messaging service. However, to its many users the app is much more than just a means of keeping in touch. The WhatsApp phenomenon has spread throughout the social media digital world, offering the end user a safe and secure platform in which to communicate. There are examples of people using WhatsApp to help inform police and security services of crime as it happens, enabling better lines of communication with the public and law enforcement as well as gathering of evidence against a perpetrator. People have used WhatsApp to record geological events such as erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes and other such catastrophes. Thanks to WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption and high standards of security, users can talk, send attachments, images and videos without…

WhatsApp was launched in January 2009 by two former Yahoo! developers, Brian Acton and Jan Koum. After the pair left Yahoo! in September 2007 they spent some time travelling and, as Internet rumour has it, frequently found it difficult to stay in touch reliably with friends and family. Once they returned home they applied for a number of jobs, one of which was at Facebook HQ. Sadly, or rather thankfully, they were turned down and about that time Koum, living off his saving from Yahoo!, purchased an iPhone and immediately saw the app industry as the way forward. Koum began exploring the possibility of developing an app that would allow mobile users to interact and communicate with each other better than with what was currently available. Teaming up with Acton, they began…

1 The first and more obvious installation method is to tap on the Play Store icon on your phone and in the search bar along the top enter: WhatsApp. Tap on the correct search listing, the one with the WhatsApp logo next to it, and you’re taken to the relevant page on the Google Play Store. 2 With the WhatsApp page on the Play Store open, tap on the Install button and the process will begin. Some phones already have a version of WhatsApp preinstalled by the manufacturer. You will know if yours is one such device as the display shows Update and Open buttons. From here it’s recommended to tap Update. 3 Once the update or install has finished you will be left with an Open button and Uninstall one if…

1 Unlock your iPhone and locate the App Store icon from the front screen (or wherever you keep it). You may need to login using your Apple id if you haven’t already done so. 2 With the App Store app open, tap the Search button. When the on-screen keyboard appears, enter ‘WhatsApp’ into the search field. Tap the Search button on the on-screen keyboard and you’re taken to the WhatsApp listing. 3 All you need do now is tap the Install button on the WhatsApp page to begin the installation process. When the install is complete the WhatsApp entry on the App Store will update with an Open button. 4 Finally, tap the Open button to launch WhatsApp and start the signing in and creating a new account steps. You can also complete…

1 From your Home screen on the Windows Phone locate the Microsoft Store tile; you may need to scroll down the screen if you’ve populated the home area with lots of tiles. Once you’ve found the Microsoft Store tile, tap it to open. 2 When the Windows Store opens, tap on Search as indicated by the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen. Then, as with the previous version of WhatsApp on Android and the iPhone, enter WhatsApp into the search bar and click on the WhatsApp returned result. 3 Tap on the WhatsApp tile as it appears in the Windows Store, this will launch the app’s front end along with its information. At the bottom of the app’s page you’ll see Install and Share buttons. Obviously you need to…

1 To begin with you need to visit the WhatsApp website, specifically the Download section: www.whatsapp.com/download. Here you can see the screen split into two sections: the left side for mobile devices and the right for desktop systems. Click the Green Download for Windows (64-bit) button to continue. 2 After clicking the button you’ll be asked to Save the file to your desktop, do so and wait for it to download. You can find the program executable in the Downloads folder of your home area on the PC. Just double-click the WhatsApp Setup program to start the installation. 3 The install is a little different to most other apps you may have downloaded in the past. After a short while WhatsApp asks you to scan a QR code with your phone’s version…