Weixan/WeChat – Shake your way to new friends



EDIT: We’ve been in touch with WeChat on Twitter. They’ve sent us a couple of Direct Messages there. Here’s what they said: 

“Hi Brian. Thx for helping us answer users’ questions! I can see that ur site is a super useful resource! We really appreciate it!” 

All well and good but how about some help! Here’s the next one: 

“We read through some of the comments & submitted these issues to the team. We’ll get back to you as soon as I hear back….”

The last one was back on September 27th, 2013. Still waiting. We’ll post when we hear from them. 

 

Last week, we wrote about WeChat. Here is the post: WeChat/Weixin . Here is the link to WeChat at the Apple Store. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wechat!/id414478124?mt=8 It’s available in the Android app store, as well.

Sometimes it seems that the only innovations in social networking are coming out of China. Honestly, that’s not all that hard to figure out, seeing as how there are over a billion people there and almost half of them use the Internet. Of those users, about 400 million access the Internet using the various mobile devices available, many of which are Smartphones.

Add the fact that Chinese Internet users are very sociable, probably more so than North Americans, and you’ve got a perfect wave forming for a company like Tencent (http://www.tencent.com/en-us/index.shtml). Enter Weixin or WeChat. Tencent already has a huge market with QQ and its own version of Weibo but now, with WeChat, they have come up with a purely mobile chat application that is, to us anyway, stunning.

Read our previous post then come back and find out how to meet new people using WeChat. Take your time, we’ll wait.

OK! Here we go. There are three completely different ways to look for other WeChat users. Of course, you can plunk in your other social media passwords and find out which friends already use WeChat or you can invite them to start using it, but here we’re talking about meeting completely new people.

1. The first way is to simply ‘Look Around’. If your mobile device has a GPS monitor, you’ll be able to search out WeChat users who live in your area. In my case, I found users within 900 meters of my home. To me, that’s kind of like standing on your porch and shouting, “Is there anybody out there?” Of course, the local users are all Chinese, except for me that is. Most early adopters of WeChat are overwhelmingly Chinese but, theoretically, that will change.

Once you find a WeChat user nearby, you can simply say, “Hi”. You can also tune the Look Around feature to show only males, only females or both. Personally, I think this feature is pretty cool but I can also see how it might seem creepy to some of you. If it does, you can easily delete the Look Around plug-in. It is part of the default set of plug-ins and is easily removed.

2. Instead of looking around for other WeChat users, you can shake your way to new relationships using the Shake plug-in. Choose the option from the screen and simply give your mobile phone a shake. WeChat looks around for other users who are shaking their devices at the same time and gives you the option to say hi to them. This plug-in is more proactive than the Look Around feature since you already know that the person shaking their phone is looking to make contact with someone. Say hi and see how it goes. You can always shake again if things turn sour. Remember, again, that virtually every user you contact will be Chinese. If you know anything about China and the Chinese people, you will know that almost everyone wants to learn English but many Chinese already have a rudimentary knowledge of it.  Many Chinese speak and write better English than some of your friends and neighbors, too.

TIP: If you meet someone you like and the English thing isn’t getting you anywhere, you can download QQ International. We’ll do another post on it but, for now, we’ll simply say that you can chat with someone who only knows Chinese even if you only know English. There is a wonderful translation app built into the International version which has opened up the world to China and, of course, China to the world.

3. The last way to meet new friends is to simply cast a bottle out into the ocean. Of course, this is a virtual bottle but it works the same way as a real bottle with a message in it. Type in your note or use a voice message and then toss your bottle into the ocean of WeChat users. WeChat will notify you when someone replies. Just now, I tossed a bottle out and almost instantly got three replies. One was a female exchange student in Denmark, another was a man who left me a voice message and the third was also a guy who just said, ‘Hello”. In the span of five minutes, I’ve got three new people to share things with. Cool!

WeChat isn’t for everyone. At this point, you have to have a keen interest in China and the Chinese people. You also have to be patient and be able to understand that not everyone in the world speaks perfect English. Once you’re over those hurdles, WeChat is loads of fun. Additionally, if you wait a year or so, WeChat will be flooded with millions of other users. At this point, it supports Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Portuguese, plus English and Chinese. (If you know social networking, you’ll see the importance of having WeChat available in Portuguese. Orkut, the Google version of Facebook, is extremely popular in Brazil.)

Questions, comments, links are all welcome. Thanks for reading!

 

 

787 thoughts on “Weixan/WeChat – Shake your way to new friends”

    1. No, you won’t appear there, at least as far as we know. Look Around shows who is online, more or less, right at the moment that someone checks. If your GPS isn’t telling WeChat where you are then no one will see you. If you don’t want to be seen, better to close your account/change your username, etc. then delete the app. That way you simply disappear. Good luck! Thanks for commenting.

  1. i wanna know what is the blue and orange icon display if you search people nearby.and if its female or male.can it be possible that the blue icon means female

      1. Blue is for males, orange for females. How’s about some wechat ID has no icon what it means? And how do we know that someone has deleted his account or still using it? Thanks for your kind feedback!

        1. If there is no color icon, that person may not have told WeChat if they are male or female, if that is possible. There is no way to know if someone has deleted their account. Good luck and thanks for commenting.

  2. Hello sir. If a friend blacklists me from seeing their moments…will I still be able to see their album of previous moments? Thank you for your help. I find this to be the most informative forum regarding Wechat.

    1. If they block you completely, it’s as if they don’t exist for you. If they simply block their Moments, you will still be able see their cover photo but that’s it, no photos at all, not even old ones or the ten that are public automatically. Good luck! Thanks for commenting and thanks for your kind words. We appreciate it.

  3. Hiya, How could I block a friend without letting them know?? they will realize when they cant see my moments right?thanks

    1. You’re right, you can’t. The only way around this is if you build up a group of friends and share your posts ONLY with that group. By doing this, the friend you want to block shouldn’t be able to see your posts. If you happen to have two devices, or a good friend to experiment with, you can try this on your own, experimenting with the share choices. Sorry for the late reply. We are on a summer hiatus. Thanks for commenting.

  4. If someone blocked me from wechat or deleted me.n if he commented on my moments bfore..wl I able to see his name in my momemts picture where he commented.

  5. If in a group chat i cannot see one of my friend reply does it means i am block? But i can see her wechat id and old moments

  6. Hello recently I purchased moto-e during shake my mobile is not covering more than 10 km distance ….what to do for expand the distance? Will you please help me ?

  7. Hello, another question for you. If my friend deleted my number from his phone, but not blocking me or deleting me on wechat, do I still see him and his moments on wechat? I think he deleted my number from his phone a couple of days ago (just guessing based on the disappeared whatsapp icon next to his name on my address book) but I still see his entire moments and id. He hardly uploads new stuff on his moments so I wouldn’t know even if he uploaded anything.. I just can see all of his past posts.

    Thank you again!

  8. Hello, one of my friends wanted to add me, so I accepted him. Later I had to delete him but didn’t block him. A couple of days later, I saw his id on my “recommended friends” list. It says “xx wants to add you” I do not have his phone number on my phonebook. Do I see this friend’s id on recommended friends section because he sent me another request / tried to add me again after I deleted him? Thank you for your help!

  9. hi i had a group chat with 100 at moment only 67 member within d group , problem when i try to add more people it’s shown group invitation, then they received invitation request sent by me but keep showing expired , why ?

    1. If there is a limit to the size of the group, and 100 members may be that limit, then you can’t add more. This may be a spam protection too but we’re not sure. Try asking WeChat on Facebook and/or Twitter. Thanks for commenting.

  10. I am using Motorola android kitlat4.4.2. I am not getting nearby chatroom. Previously it use to come.is that still available if yes then can u tell me the navigation to enable nearby chatroom option

    1. Perhaps your GPS is not working correctly. Sorry for the late reply. Try turning your GPS off then on again. Also, make sure your permissions are in order for location mapping. Thanks for commenting.

  11. Please help me, I really want to delete my wechat account. I did sent an email to wechat support but no reply from them. One more question it seems that my friend did a search on my mobile number via wechat but on my wechat settings I did not apply ‘ search by phone number’ I only set search by id and how did my friend get to know im using wechat, please advice.

    Thank you

    Regards
    Innex

    1. We don’t you think that’s possible. Why not block/delete all of your contacts, change the email account that is linked to WeChat then stop using it? Tencent does not respond to any emails that we have sent so they are no help at all. Once you have unlinked every third-party app, delete the app from your device. That’s about the best you can do, we think. Alternatively, check out the steps as listed on this site: http://www.deletewechat.com/ We don’t know if they work or not but they recommend emailing WeChat support which we really don’t expect to meet with success. Good luck and thanks for commenting.

  12. if someone hide my wechat moment of their timeline, if i can mention they name in my moment? whether they receive notification that I mention their names in WeChat?

  13. 1) I have sent a friend request but it says ” unable to add you have been blocked by the user”
    # am I been block by the party ?

    2) what is the blue icon next to a name ?

    1. It seems that you have been blocked, yes. As for the blue icon, where do you see it? Is in your chat list or your contact list? We don’t have it, not on our iOS or our Android. We have noticed that some contacts have blue links on some words in their chat messages but that is from a helper app, we think.
      Thanks for commenting.

        1. You can’t add anyone who has blocked you, if that’s what you’re asking. You can add other people but not the ones who have blocked you. Thanks for commenting.

  14. Hello, two days ago my friend blocked me. I found out when I tried to text him, it’s said “send a friend request”. I couldn’t see his moments, but I could see his profile picture. Then I blocked him and send a report ( I was angry, personal). After I blocked him his moments appeared again. I could see his all moments. Then I unblocked him and sent a friend request. It said “sent successfully”. My question is, did he block me? He deleted me for sure, but why I can see his moments only after I block him? And when you sent a report, that person you reported needs verify his account again?
    Thank you.

    1. If he blocked you, he wouldn’t exist on WeChat as far as you are concerned. He may have unfriended you but if you can still see him, he didn’t block you. He may have locked his Moments from you, that’s easy to do. It seems that once you blocked him, his Moments opened up, perhaps because he didn’t see the need to hide them from you. We’re not sure what happens after you send a report. We’re pretty sure that reporting someone would make adding them as a friend again quite impossible but that’s just a guess. Good luck. Thanks for commenting.

  15. jay, i have notice that sometimes when i chat with my frens, once a while my frens name turns into blue colour. therefore, what does this indicate? is it similar to whatsapp which indicates that my fren is online? plz help me in that.

    1. If you are using voice chat, the blue indicates that the person has heard your message. Other than that, we don’t know what it means. Anyone else? By the way, who is Jay? Thanks for commenting.

  16. if i have deleted someone from my contact list, not blocking him. but i am still in his contact list. will my moment updates be popped up in his moment news feed?

    1. If the user is not on your contact list, they will only be able to see up to ten of your last Moments. If you have turned off Shake and People Nearby, then a few of your Moments may be visible. Here’s what WeChat has to say about this: “How private is my photo album?
      Can all of my contacts see all comments made on my photo?
      Your friends will only see comments from those users who are also their friends.
      Can I restrict the visibility of my photos?
      Yes. You can set the visibility to Private; only you will be able to see the photo. If you send the photo to other friends and then select Private, then it will only be visible to you.
      Is my album visible to users not in my Contacts list?
      A portion of your album may be visible to users not in your Contacts list. If you initiate a user-finding feature, your 10 most recent photos will be visible to a user using the same feature.”

      That should explain it but if you have further questions, please comment again. Thanks!

  17. if i have deleted someone from my contact list, not blocking him. but i am still in his contact list. will my moment update be popped up in his newsfeed?

  18. Hi, my friend has been wechatiing with someone for a while, now she blocked him. But she still feels not secure since that person may still see her profile and name. He knows her name and phone number. She would like to have that person never ever find her! How to do that please?

    1. If she has blocked him, he can’t see anything about her, not her Moments, profile or anything. If he knows her real name and phone number, that’s much worse than being able to see her profile on WeChat. She can change her phone number, that’s easy. Tell her to close her WeChat account after she copies her friend list. Then she can open a new account under another name and number and add her friends back. Good luck to her.
      Thanks for commenting.

  19. only chinese peoples are available limit about 10-15 km while i was shakes in wechat. That persons are repeatably comes in my shake. May i know what is the reason for this and how can extend my distance of km to find friends in wechat shake.

    1. Shake is not reliable at all. It’s more of a gimmick than anything else. We don’t know why this happens. It seems to be a problem for many people but we have not encountered it. Sorry.
      Thanks for commenting.

  20. What does it mean when your contacts name is in blue? Usually it’s in white but once in awhile it turns to blue for a little bit before it goes to white again. Does that mean they’re online at that time using Wechat? Thanks in advance

    1. That’s a good question. We can’t answer it, however. The only contact in blue on any of our accounts is the WeChat contact and that is only on an iPod, not on our Android device. We have two accounts and both are online but neither one shows up on the other account in blue. It may mean that the account is a business or a service or subscription account but we don’t know what those are. The service account icon is blue which may or may not be significant. Maybe someone else can answer this.
      Thanks for commenting.

  21. Hi. I can’t accept friend requests on wechat because it says “join request expired”. How long does a friend request stay valid for and when does it expire?

    1. It doesn’t stay valid for very long, a matter of hours from our experience. Join seems to infer that it was a group chat you were invited to. That would expire as soon as the group ‘un-grouped’, right? Does that make sense? We hope so. Thanks for commenting.

  22. Hello! Im having an weird issue. Whenever i click on peoples profile, found on the “nearby” feature, their extra photos disappear, leaving only the main profile pic. If i click on that pic, it also disappears… Leaving the contacts with no photo or status info whatsoever. Any chance tou guys know whats happening? Ps. That does not happen with my added friends profile, wich work normally.
    Thanks

    1. We can’t suggest too much, except for rebooting or resetting your phone, deleting the app and re-installing it, things like that. This is a new problem that’s cropped up, first time we’ve heard of it. Maybe someone else can answer this better than we can.
      Thanks for commenting.

    2. I had the very same strange thing happen to me starting two days ago, March 13, as happened to Votagelsi. Then today, I was able to see the person’s profile photo, but not the “moments” photos and links. Not sure what this problem is.

      1. That’s the second time we’ve heard of the problem and we’re glad it worked out after a while for you. Maybe the same thing will happen to Votagelsi. Thanks for letting us, and him, know about it.

  23. Are you aware if any translator bots services or plugins exist for WeChat, similar to those on Google Talk or LINE? It would appear such a service would violate WeChat’s usage policy, but given their global ambitions, translator bots would be a valuable feature to have. I sure would like that as an alternative to constantly swapping between other languages like Thai and Vietnamese, where WeChat has rapidly gained market share.

    1. We agree 100%. We suggested that a long time ago and WeChat acknowledged that it would be a good idea but, so far, nothing further has been done. A web app, like QQ, may be easier to design a translator around as opposed to a mobile app. A dictionary takes up lots of room, right? We’d like to see two apps linked, WeChat and Google Translate, for instance. Instead of copying and pasting between them, which is what we have to do now, maybe they could work something around pressing the words and having Google Translate pop up with the translation. A tap would bring up WeChat again. We think it’s a bit too much to hope for right now though. Thanks for commenting.

  24. Please, i try to login my wechat for 4 days but it says “your wechat account has been blocked, click ok to unblock” i try to clicked and it direct me to tencent website that says in chinese unblock wechat via qq but i don’t have a qq account, any other solutions to unblock?i have sent mails to wechat support, but none answers me!
    thank you

    1. WeChat was created by Tencent Inc. so it makes sense that you have to request that your account be unblocked with them. There may be a security problem or someone may have reported you for some reason. You can try signing up for a QQ account or you can go to this site “http://support.wechat.com/cgi-bin/mmsupport-bin/readtemplate?t=weixin_unlock_self&step=0” (copy and paste the link into your browser) and use your mobile number to recover your banned account. Good luck!

  25. sir my id **** in on wechat and i think its request sending feature is blocked i am in problem for this please unblock my request sending feature and tell me why it is blocked
    hope you will unblock my id???? how can i unblock it

  26. i am from india kerala. for last 2 week when i shake my mobile im getting friends which is ritten in chinnees . and they are repeting again and again. and the distance shown is 2 to 15 km..
    and i am not getting other contacts… i have report 5 times to we chat since no improvement. can u help me….

    1. This happens when you use WeChat too often or for too long a period of time. At least we think that’s why it happens. Give it a break and see if things change. Alternatively, sign up for another profile and start fresh. Good luck!

  27. I just chat with other people..but she don’t want to reply my chat. Then post something in moment wechat..but i don’t know what is my question? Do you have answer

    1. Sorry. We’re not sure what you are asking. If you can see her Moments, then she has not blocked you. Maybe she can’t reply in chat so she replied in Moments. We’re just guessing. Please explain your problem a bit better and we’ll try to help. Thanks for commenting.

  28. Please help me get in touch with my boyfriend again. I have lost communication with him. I realised that I can’t just let him go. I love him so much! Jay please…I was sorry and I really want you back!

  29. My friend deleted me in wechat.i have seng her messages thru broadcast message. Can she still receive and read all my messages using broadcast message?

    1. If she has blocked you, she won’t get your messages. If you can still see her Moments and her profile, then she might be getting your messages. If you can’t see her, she’s blocked you. Good luck and thanks for commenting.

  30. I have LG p690 phone, The shake feature of wechat is not working at all, i tried shaking and tapping on screen but nothing happens. The look around and the drift bottle feature works smooth. Can someone help me if I can do something to get this up and running. Thank you.

    1. There is nothing you can do but wait until LG fixes the problem with an update. LG made our Nexus 4 and Shake just started working last week. You are lucky that People Nearby works because it didn’t for us. Tweet to LG and send a message on Facebook, something like that. Maybe they will fix the problem.
      Thanks for commenting.

  31. Hi .. Im using we chat and im enjoying it .. I met somebody via drift bottle .. Then he added me .. After chatting for 2 hours i send him a message but it says its sent but rejected by the reciever . Now i gave him an excuse via the drift bottle bottles .. And it said nothing about rejection o r so .. He saw the msg es of his drift bottle or not ?! 🙁 :'(

  32. I have a problem each time I try to log in
    The answer is Too Many operations wait
    But I’ve waited for so long now

  33. I have one question If i add someone on my wechat list of contacts but that person doesn’t have my number how he will get the notification. And after adding and immediately if i send a message..can tat person see my contact number. pls let me know

    1. If you add someone on WeChat, that means that you have that person’s ID or number, right? They don’t have to have yours. You send the request, they get it and decide to accept it or not. You cannot send a message until they accept you. Then they can send you a message. Once they accept you, they can see your ID, of course.
      Thanks for commenting.

      1. Thanks for ur reply. But this answer is not correct i believe… coz infact by mistake i had added somebody’s number frm my Mobil contacts in actual my number is not wit tat person. Once i added that number..it was immediately displayed in my friend chat list nd under this contact it was mentioned tat YOU HAVE ADDED SO AND SO,& YOU CAN START CHATTING NOW… And then immediately i have sent aapologised message also as tat number was added by mistake. And this was all happened in couple of 2-3 minutes..and Im sure tat there was no request sent frm myside nor accepted notification i received. So wit all this concept how does he receive any notification or wil my Mobil number can view tat person or how it is….. Thanks in advance…pls update me..i wud
        b vry thankful.

        1. We don’t recall you telling us that you added the number from your Mobil contacts. If you do that, they will be able to see your number. They already have it. If there is a language problem here, we apologize. Maybe we’re not getting the full explanation.

  34. hello, is it possible to unblock a contact found in shake?
    where will i find my blocked list? plz suggest me..

    1. Go to Me then Settings then Privacy. Your Blocked List is down near the bottom and it lists everyone that you have blocked. It may only contain contacts that you’re blocked, not users who you have met through Shake, we’re not sure about that. Good luck and thanks for commenting.

      1. I have been sending messages to my bf who recently deleted me in his contact but he still reply though he hadn’t add me back yet. Do u think he’s still getting all messages I sent? I really wanna get back to him (Jay). I hope you can help us having all this problems in wechat.

  35. **********URGENT AND IMPORTANT*********

    I am from India Kolkata. I sent greetings to many people females at a time for the whole day. I don’t know I am able to send greetings and the “Message sent” is also shown but the people are not receiving my requests. What has been done and when it will get resolved so that I can send greetings and requests please tell.
    Help me out 🙁

    1. Isn’t the solution kind of obvious? You’re sending out too many greetings. WeChat thinks you are spamming users and, in our opinion, they are correct. Give it a break, take some time off. Maybe use another app, something like SnapChat or WhatsApp.

      1. When I will be able to send greetings still its ten days I m not using the account but its not able to send greetings sent them request to solve the problem on twitter. nothing useful. how many greetings is permitted approx per day.
        and wen i will be ale to resume the greetings option as early

        1. You can try to contact WeChat on their Facebook page but we’ve never had any luck with either Facebook or Twitter. Maybe they have suspended your account completely, we don’t know. Good luck and thanks for commenting.

  36. I have facing the same problem while shaking ,my wechat..only getting peoples from china…i send feedback to Tancent but thgey are not responding…anyone can tell a good solution for this…

  37. Im always getting chinees frnds for shake on wechat that saying 10km-or 6km 3km etc distance away that im from a village in india having no cities near 10km to my village.. Then how can chineese reside there 6km or 5km away? And also i have checked my gps signal while shake that it showing correct where im….and most irritating thing is that i always get chinees(98%)on shake…if wechat is for chinees frnds then what the aim of making wechat as international or global chating app?..pls help me to fix this

  38. Hi, I am facing a weird issue. After using shake feature in wechat, the locale settings seems to be changed to Chinese. When I open facebook app the local language that used to be in Tamil is not appears in Chinese. Has anyone faced this problem before?

  39. Hi there… I asked question a before about wechat and had a quick reply too.. I asked , why would nobody receives my greetings at wechat after I sent greetings to 4 or 5 people may be.. 1st couple of hours, it was okay but after that no’ one receives my greetings.. I didnt send too many. One of you replied that I was may be blocked as wechat authority thought I spammed but if it is true, how many hours should it take to unbock me? or st it possible either?

    1. Try opening a new profile and see if that resolves the problem. There are many variables at play here, not just WeChat. We don’t know if a block is permanent or temporary. They may never unblock you. Thanks for commenting.

    1. Once you install the app, you can use your phone number or QQ account number to create a new account. It’s very easy. You can have several different accounts, just use a different phone number/QQ account for each one. Enjoy!
      Thanks for commenting.

  40. I am using WeChat from yesterday.. and I’m in love with the app.. But the problem is that no one can receive or see my greetings that I send to them..even my friends too…I dont know what really happened.. It was okay when I signed up the account and after 5-6 hours, I was sure that no’s getting my greetings.. Can u tell me the exact problem I am facing now?

    1. How many greetings did you send? If you sent too many, WeChat assumes that you’re spamming people. If you used it for 5 or 6 hours, that’s exactly what happened. They’ve blocked you.
      Thanks for commenting.

      1. i m facing the same type of problem my greetings are not received by other users to my frnds too in around my place after how much time i will be able to get the problem reolved pls tell.

  41. Hi.
    I need an immediate help 🙁
    I had a wechat account. And i didnt set any wechat id or email in that account.
    Yesterday i made another account with the same phone number. After creating new account i couldnt log in to the previous one. I can use just this new one.
    I linked my email and set wechat id, then i sent a delition request email. To delete the second account. But i didnt get any feedback and the account is still available.
    What should I do ?
    By the way i know that my first sccount is not deleted. I just cant log in !!!

    1. Go to Me then Settings then Privacy then to Block List. Press on the contact you want to unblock. Press the three dots on the top right and choose ‘Unblock’. That’s it! Good luck and thanks for commenting.

  42. hi, when i use the shake feature in this app i only get people from china and that too with a wrong distance shown ..for eg : some random person pops up and below it shows 2km away or 8 or 11.. can u please tell me wats wrong with it
    thanks

    1. Normally, it’s because you are using Shake too often. There seems to be a limit on the number of shakes before you start getting bad results. If it happens all the time, no matter if you use it once or one hundred times, then we suspect a helper app is interfering with WeChat’s results.
      Thanks for commenting.

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