WhatsApp for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Messages, Calls and Photos

WhatsApp lets you send messages, make voice and video calls, and share photos with anyone else who has the app, anywhere in the world, for free. It uses your internet connection instead of your phone's text-message plan, so calling a grandchild in another country costs nothing beyond what you already pay for Wi-Fi or mobile data. More than two billion people use it, which is why your family probably nudged you toward it in the first place.

The app is owned by Meta, the same company behind Facebook, and runs on both iPhone and Android phones. Once it is on your phone, almost everything works the same way no matter which phone you hold. The screens look nearly identical, the buttons sit in similar places, and the few differences are small enough to mention as we go.

Nothing you do in WhatsApp can break your phone or run up a bill by accident. There is nothing to buy inside the app, no subscription, and no advertisements interrupting your chats. The worst that can happen while you learn is that you send a message to the wrong person, and even that is easy to delete.

Getting WhatsApp onto your phone

You download WhatsApp from the same place you get every other app. On an iPhone that place is called the App Store, a blue icon with a white letter A made of a paintbrush and a pencil. On an Android phone it is the Google Play Store, a colourful triangle that looks like a sideways play button. Tap whichever one your phone has, then tap the search box at the top and type "WhatsApp".

When WhatsApp appears in the list, look for the green speech-bubble icon with a white telephone inside it. Tap the blue word "Get" on an iPhone, or the green word "Install" on Android, next to it. The app downloads in under a minute on most connections, and a small circle fills up to show progress. When it finishes, the button changes to "Open".

The first time you open WhatsApp it asks for your phone number. This is normal and safe. WhatsApp uses your number as your name tag so friends can find you, the same way your old landline number identified your house. Type your mobile number, and within a few seconds you receive a six-digit code by text message. The app usually reads that code automatically; if it does not, just type in the six digits it sent you.

Finding people and sending your first message

WhatsApp shows you which of your existing phone contacts already use the app, so you rarely have to add anyone by hand. Anyone saved in your phone who also has WhatsApp appears automatically in your contact list inside the app. To start chatting, tap the new-message icon: on Android it is a green circle with a speech bubble at the bottom right, and on iPhone it is a small square-and-pencil icon at the top right.

A list of names appears. Tap the person you want to write to, and a blank conversation opens. The white bar along the bottom is where you type. Tap it once, your keyboard slides up, and you can write your message. When you are happy with it, tap the green arrow or paper-plane button to the right of the bar to send. Your message then appears on the right side of the screen in a coloured bubble.

Two small grey ticks next to your message mean it reached the other person's phone. When those ticks turn blue, it means they have opened and read it. This tells you whether your note got through, which is reassuring when you are waiting to hear back about something that matters.

Voice notes, photos and emoji

If typing on a small screen is fiddly, you can speak your message instead. To the right of the typing bar is a small microphone icon. Press and hold it, say what you want, then let go, and WhatsApp sends a recording of your voice. The other person taps a play button to hear you. This is one of the most popular features with grandparents because it feels like leaving a quick voicemail without the effort of typing.

Sending a photo takes two taps. Tap the paperclip icon on an iPhone, or the plus icon on Android, near the typing bar, choose "Photo & Video Library" or "Gallery", then tap any picture from your phone. You can add a few words underneath if you like, then tap the green send arrow. The photo arrives at good quality, ready for the other person to save to their own phone.

The little smiley face on the keyboard opens the emoji panel, a collection of small pictures like hearts, thumbs-up signs and birthday cakes. Tap any one to drop it into your message. These small images add warmth and tone, which helps when a short text might otherwise read as blunt. There is no rule about using them, so take or leave them as you please.

Making voice and video calls

A WhatsApp video call lets you see and hear a family member live on your screen, free of charge, even if they live on the other side of the world. Open any chat with the person you want to call, then look at the top right of the screen. You will see two icons: a telephone handset for a voice-only call, and a small video camera for a face-to-face call. Tap whichever you want.

The phone rings on the other end, and when the person answers, their face fills your screen with a small window showing your own face in the corner. During a video call you can tap the camera-flip icon to switch between the front camera, which shows you, and the back camera, which shows whatever you point the phone at. That is handy for showing off a garden or a new piece of furniture. To end the call, tap the red handset button.

You can also have a group call with several family members at once, up to 32 people on a single call. Start a normal call, then tap the "add person" icon to invite others in. This turns an ordinary chat into a family get-together where everyone sees everyone, which many families now use instead of waiting for holidays to all be in one room.

Group chats explained

A group chat is a single conversation that several people share, so a message you send goes to everyone in the group at the same time. Families use these to organise birthdays, share holiday photos, or simply keep in touch day to day. When someone in the group writes, everyone sees it and can reply, and the whole exchange stays in one tidy place.

You are usually added to a group by a relative, so you may find one waiting for you with a name like "Family" at the top of your chat list. To create your own, tap the new-message icon, choose "New Group", tap the people you want to include, give the group a name such as "The Cousins", and tap the green tick. Everyone you chose can now see and join the conversation.

If a group gets too chatty, you do not have to leave and risk offending anyone. Open the group, tap its name at the top, scroll down, and choose "Mute notifications". The messages still arrive and you can read them whenever you like, but your phone stops buzzing for each one. This keeps the peace without anyone knowing you turned the noise down.

Privacy and staying safe

Every WhatsApp message and call is protected by something called end-to-end encryption, which means only you and the person you are talking to can read or hear what is sent. Not even WhatsApp itself can see inside your conversations. This is switched on automatically for everyone, so there is no setting to fuss with and nothing extra to do.

The main risk is not the app but the people who misuse it, and the most common trick is a message pretending to be from a relative who has "lost their phone" and urgently needs money. A real family member in trouble will be happy to prove who they are with a quick voice or video call. If a message asks for money or a code and pressures you to act fast, stop and call the actual person on their usual number before doing anything.

You control who can see your details. Tap "Settings", the gear or three-dots icon, then "Privacy", and you can decide who sees your profile photo, your status, and when you were last online. Setting these to "My Contacts" means only people you already know can see them. Anyone not in your contacts who messages you can be reported and blocked in two taps from inside their chat.

Replying, deleting and the small everyday extras

You can reply to one specific message in a busy chat so the other person knows exactly which point you mean. Press and hold the message you want to answer, then choose "Reply". A small quoted copy of their message sits above your reply when you send it, which keeps a lively family group from getting confused. This is far clearer than typing "about the photo you sent" and hoping they remember which one.

If you send something to the wrong chat, you can take it back. Press and hold your own message, tap "Delete", then "Delete for Everyone", and it vanishes from their phone as well, leaving only a small note that a message was deleted. You have about two days to do this. Tapping "Delete for Me" instead only removes it from your own screen, which is useful for tidying up old chats.

A few small touches make daily use easier. You can react to a message with a quick thumbs-up or heart by holding it and tapping an emoji, which saves typing a full reply. You can search any chat for an old message by tapping the magnifying-glass icon and typing a word you remember. And you can forward a funny photo or a useful note to another person by holding it and tapping the forward arrow.

Keeping your chats and photos backed up

WhatsApp can save a copy of all your chats and photos so that nothing is lost if your phone is broken, lost or replaced. This copy is called a backup, and it is stored in the cloud, which means on the internet rather than only on the phone itself. On an iPhone it uses Apple's iCloud, and on Android it uses Google Drive, both of which you already have with your phone.

To switch the backup on, tap "Settings", then "Chats", then "Chat Backup", and choose how often to back up, with "Daily" being the safe choice. The first backup may take a little while if you have many photos, so it is best done overnight on Wi-Fi while the phone charges. After that it runs quietly in the background and you never have to think about it again.

With a backup in place, moving to a new phone keeps every conversation and picture intact. When you install WhatsApp on the new phone and enter the same number, it offers to restore your chats from that backup, and one tap brings everything back. This is the safety net that means a dropped phone never costs you years of family messages.

Frequently asked questions

Does WhatsApp cost anything? No. The app is free to download and free to use. It only uses internet data, the same data your other apps use. On Wi-Fi at home it costs nothing extra at all.

Do both people need WhatsApp? Yes. You can only message or call someone through WhatsApp if they also have the app installed. The good news is that most of your family almost certainly already do.

Will it use up my mobile data? Text messages use a tiny amount. Photos and video calls use more, so when you are at home, connect to your Wi-Fi and they cost nothing. If you are worried about data away from home, save video calls for when you are on Wi-Fi.

Can I delete a message I sent by mistake? Yes. Press and hold the message, choose "Delete", then "Delete for Everyone". As long as you do it within a couple of days, it disappears from the other person's phone too, replaced by a note that a message was deleted.

What if I get a new phone? WhatsApp can move your chats across when you set up the new phone, as long as it keeps the same phone number. During setup it offers to restore your old conversations from a backup, and you simply tap to accept.

Is it safe from hackers? Your messages are encrypted so others cannot read them on the way. The realistic danger is scam messages rather than someone breaking the encryption. Be wary of urgent money requests and you remove the main risk.