WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, with over 2 billion users. One interesting feature that WhatsApp offers is the ability to message yourself. This allows you to send messages, photos, videos, documents and more to your own phone number on WhatsApp. But why does WhatsApp offer this message yourself feature? There are a few key reasons.
1. Reminders and Notes
One of the main uses for WhatsApp’s message yourself feature is to set reminders and take notes. It provides an easy way to save information you want to remember or tasks you need to complete without having to use a separate note taking app. For example, you can message yourself a grocery list, things to pack for a trip, questions to ask at a doctor’s appointment, gift ideas for friends and family, and anything else you might want a reminder about. Using WhatsApp to message yourself these types of notes can be faster and more convenient than opening another app.
The great thing is that all your notes and reminders will be in one place within WhatsApp for easy access. You don’t have to hunt through various note apps to find that reminder you sent yourself last week. And whatever you message yourself is private, so you don’t have to worry about others seeing it.
2. Quick Access to Information
In addition to reminders and notes, messaging yourself on WhatsApp also provides quick access to important information you may need. For example, you can send yourself:
- Flight itineraries
- Event tickets and details
- Hotel and rental car confirmations
- Passport photos or copies of documents
- Directions and addresses
- Product info or reviews when shopping
- E-tickets for shows or concerts
Having easy access to this type of information right in WhatsApp can be very convenient if you need to quickly look something up. No more searching through your camera roll or emails to find a receipt, ticket, or document.
3. Quickly Sharing to Another Chat
Another advantage of messaging yourself information on WhatsApp is that it makes that info easy to share with others when needed. For example, if you message yourself an address, product link or document, you can forward that message to a friend or family member far more quickly than having to locate it in another app first.
WhatsApp will even keep the initial timestamp from when you first sent it to yourself, so the recipient will know when you originally messaged yourself the item versus just forwarding it.
4. Draft Messages for Later
Messaging yourself on WhatsApp also gives you a place to draft and save messages for later if you don’t have time to send them right away. You can start typing out a message to a friend or family member when you think of it, but then save it as a draft by sending it to your own number first if you don’t have time to finish it.
Then when you have time later, open the message you sent yourself and copy/paste it into a new message to the intended recipient. This saves you from having to retype an entire message if you think of something to tell someone but don’t have the time in that moment to craft and send the full message.
5. Saving Multimedia
WhatsApp allows you to easily send photos, videos and voice messages to yourself as well. This gives you a way to quickly save and access multimedia you want to keep. For instance, you can:
- Save funny photos or memes to look at later or forward to friends.
- Save photos of things like business cards or handwritten notes for easy access later.
- Send yourself voice notes with ideas or thoughts you want to remember.
Trying to keep track of all these types of media files in your camera roll or phone storage can be tedious. Using WhatsApp to message them to yourself keeps them organized and accessible in one place.
6. Syncing Across Devices
WhatsApp allows you to sync your chats across multiple devices. So when you message yourself on one phone it will automatically show up on your other linked devices like your tablet or computer.
This makes messaging yourself a great way to easily transfer and access something across all your devices. You don’t have to email files to yourself or upload media to a cloud drive. Just WhatsApp it to yourself and it will instantly be available on your other connected devices thanks to WhatsApp’s syncing abilities.
7. Creating Tasks and Checklists
You can also use WhatsApp’s message yourself feature as a way to create personal task lists and checklists. When you have a big project or goal to accomplish, you can message yourself a breakdown of all the steps involved.
For example, you could send yourself messages like:
- Schedule doctor appointment
- Look up recipes for dinner party
- Buy decorations
- Make guest list
- Clean house
- Confirm guests
- Make shopping list
- Etc.
Seeing this task list in WhatsApp allows you to check things off as you complete them. And it keeps all your major to-do lists organized in one place for easy access and reference.
8. Private Journaling
Messaging yourself on WhatsApp also gives you a private space to write journal or diary entries. You may not want to keep a journal out where others could access it. But when you message diary entries to yourself on WhatsApp, it’s visible only to you in your private chat thread.
This can be a great way to get thoughts and feelings out when you need to without worrying about privacy. You can look back on the journal entries later as a way to track growth and progress over time.
9. Writing Down Sudden Ideas
Have you ever had a million great ideas flash through your mind right when you’re about to go to sleep or are in the shower? Messaging yourself on WhatsApp provides a place to instantly capture those brilliant ideas so you don’t forget them.
Keep your phone nearby and quickly type out innovations, inspirations, light bulb moments and creative sparks that come to you so you have them saved for later. It takes just seconds to preserve your sudden bursts of genius and keep them handy in WhatsApp anytime you need a reminder.
10. Offloading for Peace of Mind
Finally, messaging yourself can provide a bit of mental relief by giving you a place to offload thoughts from your mind. Getting anxieties, worries, frustrations and other thoughts out of your head by typing them out in a message to yourself can help clear your mind and give you a sense of peace.
It puts the thoughts into a separate place that won’t distract you but will still be there later if you need to revisit them. Think of messaging yourself as giving your brain a little break by taking some thoughts off its shoulders temporarily.
Key Benefits of Messaging Yourself on WhatsApp
In summary, here are some of the key benefits of using WhatsApp’s message yourself feature:
- Create private reminders, notes and checklists
- Quickly access important info like tickets, documents and addresses
- Easily copy/paste draft messages to send later
- Store photos, videos and voice messages in one place
- Sync items across multiple devices
- Offload thoughts and journal privately
- Capture ideas, innovations and inspirations
- Share info you message yourself faster
How to Message Yourself on WhatsApp
If you want to start using WhatsApp to message yourself, it’s a very easy process:
- Open your WhatsApp app and tap the “Chats” tab.
- Tap the pencil icon in the top right to start a new chat.
- Type in your 10 digit mobile number.
- Tap the contact result with your name to start a chat thread with yourself.
- Type out any message, reminder, note, idea or media you want to send yourself.
- Tap send.
It’s that simple! Now you’ll have a chat thread with yourself where you can send anything you need to remember or access later. You’ll see your own profile photo and name at the top of the chat.
You can go back to this chat at any time to look at the items you sent yourself, copy text to forward to others or add new messages.
Tips for Messaging Yourself on WhatsApp
To get the most out of WhatsApp’s message yourself feature, keep these tips in mind:
- Use descriptive message info – When you’re messaging yourself reminders, notes or info, include some context in the message instead of just sending random words and sentences. For example, “Grocery list for this week” or “Talking points for performance review.”
- Take photos – Use the built-in camera in WhatsApp to take photos of things you want to remember like parking spots, business cards, recipes, etc. and send them to yourself.
- Voice notes – If you don’t have time to type something out, send yourself a quick voice note instead.
- Organize with filenames – When sending yourself documents, photos or videos, rename the files first with a descriptive title so you know what they are when messaging yourself.
- Utilize favorites – Star important messages you send yourself so they go to the top of your chat thread for quick access.
- Delete unimportant messages – Don’t let your message yourself chat get too cluttered. Occasionally go back and delete content you no longer need.
- Sync chats – Enable chat syncing in WhatsApp’s settings to access your message yourself chat seamlessly across multiple devices.
Conclusion
Messaging yourself on WhatsApp is a simple but incredibly useful feature. It provides a private place to store reminders, notes, files, photos, checklist and journal entries accessible only to you. And it allows you to easily copy/paste info you send yourself when you need to quickly share it with others.
With so many helpful purposes, it’s no wonder WhatsApp included the option to message your own number. So next time you need to take a quick note, jot down a reminder for later or send yourself important info, open a chat with yourself in WhatsApp. It just may become one of your most used messaging threads!