WeChat is an application developed by Tencent developers for text and voice messaging. The app is a good alternative for WhatsApp and is available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phones. The app is supported on Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. So, what are the features of this app that makes it outstanding? Come, let’s have a look!
Live Chat
You can create a Live Chat session to chat with your friends; this feature is available only in the new versions of WeChat for Android and iOS. To start a live chat hit the plus (+) sign in a group chat and select “Live chat”. This will send an invitation to the members of the group chat. Now hold the middle button and you can start talking after the tone and the light will turn green.
But only one can talk at a time and if you try to talk while another is speaking, the light will turn red and also will show ‘Someone is speaking’. Otherwise the name of the person who’s talking at present will be shown. You can also make the Live Chat window hide by hitting the hide button in the top right; and can return back by clicking the green bar in group chat or hit the Live Chat notification at the top. To end a Live chat session, you may press the Power off/Switch Off button.
Group Chat QR Code
A QR code is available for each group chat and hence you can invite your friends to a chat session via these QR codes. You can save this code in your device and can also share it by mail. The members can scan the code with WeChat to join the group chat.
Chat History Backup
The app has a feature that will allow you to backup your chat history. This feature is very useful since the chat history is only stored for 7 days. To backup, go to settings and move to General and select Chat History Backup. Now Select Backup and choose the messages you would like to backup. For security matters, you can set a password for the stored file and when you log in to another device, select Restore and give your password, so that you can access your backed up data.
Video Call and Voice Chat
Versions 4.2 and later have the facility for video chat that allows you to connect to your friends face to face. To use the Voice chat, you need to hold the Hold to Talk button to record your messages and release the button to send it. You can also switch between video and audio modes during the call.
Moments and Look Around
Moments enable us to share our photos. Options are available to set the visibility of photos and you can use @name to tag your friends.
Look Around seems to be an exciting feature, with Look around you can find people who use WeChat and have enabled Look Around. And you can send invitations to those people to become friends.
All in all, WeChat is a good option if you are looking for a networking app. Its video calling is always better than most other networking apps in the market.
