Probably second only to keeping your Chinese residency permit current, WeChat is the most important thing in any expat’s ‘thriving in China’ arsenal. It is hard to appreciate just how important the app is outside of China as people might compare it to the Chinese version of WhatsApp until you realize that everything from payment to business to playtime is conducted almost exclusively on the app. Truth is, WeChat can be a bit of a pain to use, but it is constantly being updated to make the user experience better, especially for expats.
Now, WeChat incorporates most of our favorite features in other social media apps, with a channel function where you can now upload videos and share them with millions of users. But recently, WeChat unveiled its iOS 7.0.17 which includes new handy features.
So much of life in China lies in the palm of your hand.
For one, there is a new ‘hide’ feature, which allows you to hide conversations you might wish to keep discreet, or just don’t feel like seeing or engaging with on a busy workday. Admittedly, WeChat can be quite distracting on a typical workday, with messages, especially group messages, constantly being updated and demanding our attention. Well, no more. All you have to do is click on the ‘Hide’ function and banish certain conversations and groups until they are needed again.
Hashtags are not just for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram anymore. You can now also add tags to your moments and your videos for your channel to create topics, just as you would on Instagram.
No more worries if little hands grab hold of your phone.
But the most impressive feature thus far is the parental control feature, which allows parents to control which WeChat Mini games, mini-programs, channels, official accounts, searches, and top stories your child can access. This is an addition to WeChat’s already existing ‘Allowance’ feature, which is designed to allow parents to automatically transfer a set amount of money to their children directly from their WeChat accounts.
Obviously, these are iOS specific updates. We can only hope that soon they will be available to WeChat’s Android users.
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