WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of its key features is the ability to “star” messages – this lets you easily flag messages as important, so you can find them quickly later.
But WhatsApp has always had a focus on privacy and security. So an important question is – when you star a message you received, does the sender get notified or see that you starred their message? Let’s take a detailed look at how starring messages works on WhatsApp.
What Does Starring a Message on WhatsApp Do?
When you “star” a message on WhatsApp, it adds a small star icon next to that message. This lets you easily see that it’s been starred.
Starring a message doesn’t send any notification to the sender or other people in the chat. It also doesn’t forward or re-send the message.
Starring simply adds the visual star icon and moves that message to your Starred Messages section. This is a separate section that contains all your starred messages in one place.
So starring acts like bookmarking or saving a message, so you can quickly find it later.
Can The Sender See If You’ve Starred Their Message?
No, starring a message is completely private to your own account. The sender of the message has no indication if you’ve starred their message or not.
Your starred messages are only visible to you. No one else using WhatsApp, including the senders of any messages, can see your list of starred messages or get any notification when you star something.
So you can freely star messages for your own reference without worrying about the sender finding out.
What Are Some Examples of When Starring Messages Is Useful?
Here are some common examples of when you may want to star messages on WhatsApp:
– Important details like an address, meeting time, phone number or link you want to save.
– Confirmation messages or receipts with details you want to reference later.
– Travel or reservation confirmations.
– Messages with useful information or recommendations you want to look back on.
– Nice photos or videos you want to easily find later.
– Important contacts or conversations you want to be able to access quickly.
Basically, starring on WhatsApp is handy for bookmarking anything you might want to reference again in the future.
Can You Remove Starred Messages?
Yes, removing a starred message is just as easy as starring one. Here’s how to remove a star from a message on WhatsApp:
1. Open the message thread that contains the starred message.
2. Tap and hold on the message you want to unstar. This opens a popup menu.
3. Tap the yellow star icon in the popup menu to remove the star.
4. The star icon will disappear, indicating the message is no longer starred.
This will also remove the message from your Starred Messages section.
Do Starred Messages Sync Across Devices?
Yes, your starred messages automatically sync across any linked devices.
So if you star a message on your Android phone, it will appear starred on a linked desktop as well.
This syncing happens thanks to your WhatsApp account and enables seamless access to your important starred messages across devices.
Can You Star Messages in Group Chats?
Starring messages works the same way in both private and group chats. You can star any message in a group chat, and it will be privately starred just for you.
Other group participants will not see that you’ve starred a message. And the message will not be re-shared with the group when you star it.
Starring in groups is handy for bookmarking important details like event plans, locations, and contact info that was shared in the group chat.
Is There a Limit to How Many Messages You Can Star?
WhatsApp does not currently limit how many messages you can star.
You have unlimited storage for keeping messages starred to easily refer back to them. The number of starred messages you can have will depend on your device storage capacity.
Can You Star Messages on WhatsApp Web/Desktop?
WhatsApp Web and Desktop work just like the mobile apps in terms of starring messages. You can star messages by clicking on the message and then the star icon.
These will sync to your mobile app and allow you to access starred messages seamlessly across devices.
Starring on Web/Desktop is convenient for easily bookmarking important details from chats directly on your computer.
Conclusion
Starring messages is a simple but useful WhatsApp tool to privately bookmark and flag messages for easy access later. It’s completely invisible to the sender and other users.
So feel free to liberally use message starring to keep track of important details, media, and conversations on WhatsApp without worrying about others being notified.
More WhatsApp Tips
Here are some additional useful WhatsApp tips and tricks:
Pin Chats
Pin up to 3 chats to the top of your WhatsApp chat list for quick access. Swipe right on a chat and tap “Pin”.
Bolded and Italic Text
* Surround text with asterisks to make it italic *like this*.
** Use double asterisks to bold text **like this**.
@Mention Contacts
You can @mention contacts in group chats with @contactname. This will notify them with a mention!
Reply Privately in Groups
In a group, long press on a message and tap “More” to Reply Privately to send a private message to the sender.
Share Contact Info
Tap Attach > Contacts to quickly share a contact’s phone number or other info in a chat.
Media Guidelines
WhatsApp has a generous 16MB file size limit for sending media. But smaller files like 2-3MB will send faster.
Text Formatting
You can make text **bold**, _italic_, or ~strikethrough~ on WhatsApp to add emphasis and variety.
Wallpapers
Customize your WhatsApp background wallpaper by tapping the 3-dot Settings menu > Chats > Wallpaper.
Dark Mode
Enable Dark Mode for WhatsApp under Settings > Chats to transition to a stylish dark color scheme.
Group Admin Tools
Group admins have special tools like deleting messages, muting members, and more available under Group Settings.
Status Replies (Coming Soon)
WhatsApp is working on letting you reply to status updates just like you can reply to messages!
Polls (Coming Soon)
WhatsApp is developing the ability to run polls in groups, so you can survey group members.
32 Person Video Calls (Coming Soon)
WhatsApp is expanding group video calls to support up to 32 participants at once!