Tag Archives: WhatsApp

fixed : easiest way to get a macOS screenshot into a Whatsapp message

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Question :
In the latest versions of macOS any screenshot I make is no longer immediately saved to the Desktop, but instead I get a popup screen with a preview asking me what to do with the screenshot… but there if I click on the Export button there is no option to export to the Whatsapp.app and it’s impossible to drag&drop the preview into the Whatsapp.app either…

What is te easiest way to get the screenshot into Whatsapp ?

Answer :
The easiest option would have been to just drag&srop the Screenshot preview… but as you already mentioned, that’s impossible.
There are 2 options to get to your desired result as quickly and easily as possible :

Option 1 : using Preview.app
– on your Mac, open the Whatsapp.app and start a new message, no need to typ anything in it yet, just make sure it’s ready
– on your Mac, create a screenshot by pressing the [CMD]+[SHIFT]+[4] key combo
– when the screenshot preview window opens, click the Export button (square with an upward pointing arrow – top right, next to the Done button)
– in the pulldown menu that appears, click Preview
– now the Preview.app opens the screenshot, so in Preview.app click the document name Untitled
– in the document info pulldown menu, set Where: to Desktop
NOTE : you need to (temporarily) save the screenshot anywhere on your Mac before macOS lets you move it to Whatsapp
– then, click on the document name Untitled again, and a document icon will appear left-next to Untitled
– drag that document icon into the Whatsapp.app and the screenshot will appear in your (already open) message
– now, typ any additional text for your message and send it out
– then close the screenshot from the Preview.app
– when you get a window asking you to save screenshot Untitled, click the Delete button since you proably don’t need to keep it
NOTE : no need to save the screenshot on your Mac if you don’t have any use for it – even if you need it later-on, you can get it back by taking it out of your Whatsapp message

Option 2 : the old style
– on your Mac, open the Whatsapp.app and start a new message, no need to typ anything in it yet, just make sure it’s ready
– on your Mac, create a screenshot by pressing the [CMD]+[SHIFT]+[4] key combo
– when the screenshot preview window opens, click the Done button (top right)
– now, drag&drop the screenshot from your Desktop into the Whatsapp.app and the screenshot will appear in your (already open) message
NOTE : if you have a lot of windows open, it will be faster to long-click on the Finder icon bottom-left in the Dock, select New Finder Window from the pulldown menu, click Recent in the menu on the left ot the new Finder window that opens and find your latest screenshot on top and drag&drop it into Whatsapp.app from there
– now, typ any additional text for your message and send it out
– then drag&drop the screenshot to the Trash (or Bin) to delete it (either from the Desktop or from the Recents folder if that’s where you took it from)
NOTE : no need to save the screenshot on your Mac if you don’t have any use for it – even if you need it later-on, you can get it back by taking it out of your Whatsapp message

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : can I send iPhone text messages to Android users from my Mac ?

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Question :
If I want to send text messages to my friends that have Android phones, I can do that from my iPhone using Whatsapp.app or iMessage/Messages.app, but when I’m working on my Mac, it would be far more convenient to do send and receive messages on my Mac.

Is there a way to use Whatsapp and/or iMessage/Messages on my Mac as if I was using my iPhone ?

Answer :
Yes, There is.

Whatsapp to Android from Mac
To send and receive Whatsapp messages, from both Apple and Android users, on your Mac, you only need to install Whatsapp for Mac.
You can get Whatsapp for Mac from the Whatsapp website or from the Mac AppStore.
( the Appstore version is slightly different, but the big plus is that it is automatically updated )
After installing you just need to link it to you iPhone using the iPhone’s Whatsapp.app

Note : even though the iOS version of Whatsapp is listed as Phone/Tablet on the Whatsapp website, it will NOT run on iPad !!! ( as all current iPads run iPadOS, not iOS – an iPadOS version has been in the works for years, but it had still not been released to the general public )

Messages ( iMessage including SMS ) to Android from Mac
To send and receive iMessages on your Mac, you can just use the pre-installed Messages.app from macOS. But if you use it the standard way, you can only send iMessages to Apple users with it… if you want to include sending SMS text messages with it, so you can also send and receive text messages from Android users, you need to switch on some extras :
– open your iPhone
– open Settings.app
– on the page taht opens, scroll down to ‘Apps’ and open it
– on the new page that opens, in the search field, typ ‘Mes…’ and Messages will appear
– click on Messages to open it
– on the next page, scroll down to ‘Text Message Forwarding’ and open it
– on the next page that opens, select you other Apple devices ( switch them ON / green )
– then exit
– now, on your Mac, you will be able to use the SMS functionality in the Messages.app

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : transcribe WhatsApp voice messages

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Question :
I have some friends and acquaintances that prefer to not send me text messages in WhatsApp, but they nearly always send me voice messages… I get frustrated by them, because I can’t speed-read-scan those for the clue, I can’t easily find the info back later on and I can’t listen to them if I don’t have my headphones nearby…

Is there an easy way to have them transcribed ?

Answer:
Yes there is, and it is built-in into WhatsApp since november 2024… however, WhatsApp is not releasing it worldwide everywhere all at once… so, it may be available for you already, but you might also need to wait for it a little longer…

To switch on the Transcribe-function in WhatsApp do this :

  • make sure your iPhone is running iOS 16 or newer ( since the fall of 2024 we’re on iOS18 )
    Note : in iOS 16 only English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, and Arabic are supported ; in iOS 17 Danish, Finish, Hebrew, Malay, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish and Thai were added.
  • make sure that Siri is turned on
    to turn on Siri, do these :
    – goto Settings.app > Siri > Talk to Siri > make sure that “Press Side Button for Siri” is turned ON
    – goto Settings.app > Siri > Messaging with Siri > READ MESSAGES > Add Language… > make sure that the languages that you frequently use to communicate are activated
    – goto Seetings.app > Siri > [scroll down] > Apps > WhatsApp > make sure that all options are switched ON
  • then, open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
  • open the main ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
    • click on Settings ( bottom-right ; with the sprocket/gear-icon )
    • in the ‘Settings’ screen that opens, scroll slightly down and click on ‘Chats’
    • in the ‘Chats’ page that opens, you’ll see an option named ‘Voice Message Transcripts’
      Note : this option will only be visible if WhatsApp has released it for your you, so if you don’t see it (yet), comback to this page later to chack wether it’s available for you…
    • switch ON ‘Voice Message Transcripts’ to activate it, and choose your Transcript Language

      Then, to create transcripts of voice messages, do this :
    • open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
    • open the ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
    • click on the chat that you’ve received the voice message in ( so, locate the voice message )
    • click & hold on the voice message
    • click ‘Transcribe’ when it appears
    • click the smal triangular arrow (the downward pointing angle) to expand the transcription
    • now, the transcription will be shown…
      Note : it might take some time before the transcription will appear
    • That’s it !
      enjoy 😉

      Note : if you get an error saying ‘Transcript unavailable’, this may be because of one of the following :
      – you have set te wrong transcript language
    • the voice message language isn’t supported (yet)
    • you have set the wrong transcript language
    • the audio quality it too poor to be transcribed ( e.g. due to background noise )

fixed : no internet connection while WiFi and LAN are okay (after running Jaksta)

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Question :
I was running an app (Jaksta Media Recorder) that crashed. Now I am no longer able to make any connection to the internet from macOS using my regular settings. Safari, Apple Mail.app and Whatsapp for macOS can no longer get propper connection to the internet.
I have tried resetting my internet modem, and my VPN now works, but the apps still cannot get a propper internet connection… so it appears to be a DNS problem, but changing DNS servers didn’t help…

What can I do to solve this ?


Answer :
As you might have expected, Jaksta Media Recorder has caused this problem when it crashed… to fix it, do this :
– restart your Mac
– do not startup any apps, startup the Jaksta Media Recorder app first
– when the Jaksta Media Recorder window opens (where you can see your previous downloads a.k.a. recordings) go to the bottom left corner and put the slider (that is turned ON automatically) in the OFF position
– then quit the Jaksta Media Recorder app

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

Note : Jaksta Media Recorder for Mac is no longer being supported, as of 2023 Jaksta is a Windows-only app, so if you run into any problems with Jaksta for Mac you are pretty much left hanging… so, if you’re looking fro an alternative for Jaksta, see this post :
fixed : current version (or replacement) for Jaksta downloader app on macOS

fixed : I can’t find the correct flag symbol in Whatsapp

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Question :

When I am typing messages in Whatsapp I sometimes want to include emoji like the flag of my country… so I open the emoji list and I get overwhelmed by the number of flags available, so I pick the flag that looks like the one I want, only to find out after posting that it turend out to be the flag of another country… quite embarrassing honestly…

I live in The Netherlands, so this happens quite often, since our Dutch flag is nearly identical to the Luxembourg flag and in tiny emoji size is easily mixed up with the flags of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Egypt…

Is there any way to always pick the correct flag ?

Answer :

Yes, there is, and it’s rather simple… just do this :
– if Whatsapp is open, make sure the regular typing filed is available and the keyboard is visible
– then just typ the name of the country you want in full (with or without a starting capital)
– now in the text correction suggestions bar just below the typing field, the correct flag will turn up as a suggestion on the right
– just click on that to insert it into your message

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : create a poll or multiple-choice questionaire in WhatsApp

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Question :

I want to test the waters on some subject in a WhatsApp-group I’m in. Let’s say I want to know how everybody feels about doing something together or not. I’ve seen someone else post a polling questionnaire like that in another WhatsApp-group, and I want to do something similar…

How do I do that ?

Answer :

To create a poll (a questionnaire) in WhatsApp, do this :

  • make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your iPhone
  • open WhatsApp and go to the group you want to post the poll in
  • click on the + (the Plus-sign) bottom left (next to the field where you normally type new messages)
  • in the popup list that opens, select “Poll”
  • in the “Create Poll” window that opens, at “Question” type the initial question for your poll/questionnaire
  • then, at “Options”, add the first multiple-choice answer you have in mind
  • then, just below, type the second multiple-choice answer
  • now, upon typing the second multiple-choice answer, you will see that an extra field will appear for an extra answer you have in mind
  • if you want to add a third (or fourth or fifth) multiple-choice answer, type it
  • so, when you have all multiple-choice answers typed, leave the bottom field empty (it will be marked with “Add” in grey)
  • now, if you want people to limit their response to only one answer/option, set the “Limit to only one choice” open (to the right) ; if not, leave it closed (to the left)
  • then click “Send” top right and your poll will be posted in your WhatApp-group
  • as soon als people start filling out your poll/questionaire, their face-icons/avatars will show up next the answer of their choice, so you can monitor the most and least popular answers

That’s it !

enjoy 😉