If you want to find out how to send and share any file via WhatsApp on Android, here’s an article that will take you through the necessary steps, with some extra information about alternative methods you can use.
Method 1: How to Send Photos via WhatsApp
WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging applications worldwide, with over 1,000,000,000 downloads on the app store. It’s completely free to use, and the encryption is so good that there are rumors that the British government have recently discussed banning the application ‘to ensure that terrorists do not have a safe space in which to communicate’. In other words, it’s pretty secure. You can make groups for friends, family and colleagues, and you can even send snippets of voice recordings if you’re not bothered to type out your message. It’s an all-around great app, and it’s versatile depending on your needs. It’s generally pretty costly if you want to send a photo using traditional SMS methods, so WhatsApp has become a great alternative to sending photos directly to the phone number. For this method to work, both you and the recipient must have WhatsApp downloaded to their phone. To send a photo via WhatsApp; Open WhatsApp, and tap the Contacts tab found on the far right of the screen. Tap the name or number of the person you would like to send an image to. Press the icon that looks like a paperclip in the top right hand corner to open a new menu. From this menu, you can share photos by tapping on the Gallery Select the photo/image that you would like to send. This will prepare the image to be sent. You’ll see the following menu appear on your device; You can add text by tapping and typing where is says Add a caption… while you can add additional photos by tapping the plus sign located near the bottom of the screen. (You can also find options for editing your photo in the top right hand corner.) To send the message, press the Send button located in the bottom right hand corner. The recipient should now have received the message, and you’ll see two grey check marks to confirm that they have been sent the message. (They will turn blue once the messages have been seen.)
Method 2: Send Any File via WhatsApp
Furthermore, you’re not limited to just sending photos. You can use WhatsApp to send nearly any file to another device, and the method is similar to the one above. (This includes audio files, contacts, videos and everything in between.) As with before, both you and the recipient must have WhatsApp downloaded for this method to work; Open WhatsApp, and find the person you want to send the message to. Press the icon that looks like a paperclip in the top right hand corner to open a new menu. From this menu, you can share a number of different file types. (Such as; audio files, contacts and videos.) Tap on the option that is relevant to the file type you want to send, and you’ll open a new menu in WhatsApp. Select the file that you would like to send. From here, you can add captions or make minor edits before you send the file over. Tap Send when you’re happy to send the file.
That’s it,you should now be ready (and able) to send nearly any file using WhatsApp. (Alternatively, you can click on the share icon for a webpage, tweet, or anything else that is shareable on your Android phone. This should open a new menu on your device. If you scroll down the list of options to WhatsApp and select it, you will be able to send the link/content to any of your contacts by tapping directly on their name.)
Method 3: Sending Photos via SMS
If you don’t care about the price, and you just want to know how to send a photo message already, here’s a quick recap showing how to send an image using your stock messaging application.It should only take a few taps to send a photo or file via MMS; Open the messaging application on your Android device. Find and open the contact you would like to send a MMS to. Tap the camera/paperclip icon to open a new menu.(It may look a little different, depending on your device.) You will be able to select the image from either your Gallery, Picture or Photos (You can also take a photo and send it to your contact if you wish to do so.) Once selected, tap Send to send the image across. The recipient should now get the message almost instantaneously. (But you will be charged for sending the message, depending on your provider.)
Method 4: Alternative Apps
If your contact doesn’t have WhatsApp, there are a number of alternative apps you can use to share images, videos and messages with your contacts. For example, you can use an app like Slack. Slack is a message board that can be used by teams, and it’s easy enough to setup. Just get the recipient to download the app and invite them to your team, and you can send as many links, messages and images as you like, and it’s also free to use. (There are a number of alternatives if you don’t like the feel of Slack.) Social media apps can also be used to share files from platform to platform or to other people. Twitter, Facebook and the like are useful in this regard, but you’ll obviously need your contact to have an account registered. You can bring up a list of the available sharing apps you have by opening the image on your phone, and pressing the share icon located at the bottom of the screen.
Method 5: Alternative Websites
Of course, there are a large number of alternative websites you can use to upload images. Slack has a dedicated website, so you can send links to yourself and others from your phone to a desktop, while you could also send the file/s by email or by using a similar service. In other words, paying to send an image should be seen as a last resort, given the number of different free methods there are on Android.
Conclusion
I’m old enough to remember when mobile phones first became popular in the 1990’s, and how expensive it was to make phone calls and send messages. In an age of cheap mobile phone contracts, picture messages are one of the last expenses left off all-inclusive call and data plans, and they still cost as much as they did during the 90’s. It’s a good thing that technology has finally caught up, and it’s even better that it’s completely free to use WhatsApp and others like it. Hopefully, you will now have a better idea of what WhatsApp does, as well as some alternative, free methods for sending images on your Android device.If you want to find out even more, here’s a list of 5 tips, tricks and hacks for WhatsApp to keep you sated. If we’ve missed an easy way to send images for free, or you have questions about one of the methods on this list, let us know in the comments below, or you can reach out to us on either Facebook or Twitter. Featured Image Credit
