Tag Archives: WeChat

WeChat – Mention a Friend in Moments

We had a question about the new ‘Mention’ feature on WeChat. If you use Facebook then you know you can tag someone in a photo or mention them in a post or comment. That directs their attention to the item, just to make sure they don’t miss it. Here’s how to do it on WeChat.

1. From any screen, tap Discover (or Social, depending on which platform you are using). When the following screen comes up, press Moments.

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Press Discover to bring up this screen then press Moments.

2. As usual, press the icon of the camera up on the top right.

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Press the icon of the camera up on the top right.

3. Next, choose your source.

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Take a photo or choose one that you’ve already taken.

4. Once you’ve got the pic selected, press Done and this sharing screen comes up. This hasn’t changed much except that there is a new choice there, the @Mention button.

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If you want to mention one of your contacts, press the @Mention button.

5. Here’s what you see next:

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Press the big + sign to mention contacts in this post.

6. Your contact list pops up, allowing you to select up to 10 names to mention on this one post:

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Scroll down and tap each contact to select them.

7. Type in a description, if you want, then hit Send. If you want to limit your sharing to certain contacts, do that before you press send.

8. The contact who is mentioned gets a notification of a message in Moments, the next time they open WeChat. Once they go to the message, WeChat tells them ‘(whoever) mentioned me.’ That’s it!

TIP: If someone has mentioned up in a Moment post, there is nothing you can do about it. Your friend can delete the Moment but you can’t remove the mention. Yes, that kind of sucks. If someone does this repeatedly, you might want to delete or block that contact.

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Explore the World with WeChat

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7158 KM away.

We’ve been using QQ for many years. QQ is similar to MSN or Yahoo but it’s mainly used in China. Tencent, the company that created QQ, has released WeChat (Weixin in China). WeChat is a fully tricked-out chat app that is taking the world by storm. We’ve put together some thoughts on the international flavor of WeChat.

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A good reason to communicate with people from around the world, right?

1. Maybe we’re a bit sensitive, but we’ve noticed a vague trend of dissatisfaction among some WeChat users when they get mainly Chinese contacts on Shake or Look Around. We’re concerned because we’ve got hundreds of friends in China and, from what we’ve discovered, they’re pretty much like us. China has about four times the population of the United States, about forty times the population of Canada, so it stands to reason that there are more Chinese at the end of a Shake ‘shake’ than anyone else. Add to that the fact that WeChat originated in China and that the Chinese are well known to be early-adopters of new tech, well, you get the point.

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8202 KM Away.

2. For many years, the U.S. seemed to be on the cutting edge of everything. That’s changed but the myth persists. Tencent named the international version of Weixin ‘WeChat’ so, naturally, most American users assume it’s an American product. Is that the reason for the surprise and seeming disappointment when social contacts appear who are half-way around the world? We think so. In this particular case, the rest of the world is way behind Tencent because the rest of the world seems to have forgotten ‘chat’. We never seen anything spread out around the world in quite the same way as WeChat.

 

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Sao Paolo, Brazil.

3. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a fair amount of sabre-rattling going on now. 9/11 was devastating, to say the least, but the by-product of that fateful day was the ever-increasing xenophobia we see in the world now. If someone looks ‘different’, then they are considered a threat. We’ve been down that path before, history is full of these examples. But, if you let it, WeChat will open up your world and show you that people are the same all over the world. Will WeChat finally bring world peace? Hey, it might just help, right?

4. English is the constant in all of this. While WeChat supports other languages, the vast number of users, yes, even the Chinese, will default to English when necessary. If you already speak and write English, you’re miles ahead of many other WeChat users but you are also valuable to those same users, simply because they want to learn English. Live a little, take a chance and help them out. If you’re only looking for the girl or guy next door, maybe WeChat isn’t for you. If you want to know more about the whole world around you, then WeChat fills the bill perfectly.

Curiously enough, we just shook for a few photos for this post and got no one from Asia. Why? Because it’s almost 3 AM in Asia. If you’re in Europe, shake when Europeans are shaking, if you want to meet people close to you. If you want to live a little, shake when people across the world are shaking. We think you’ll have a lot more fun that way.

Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, observations are always welcome. Hey, why not Like us on Facebook? Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook . 

 

WeChat FAQ

WeChat (or Weixin) is the hottest new chat app out there. We’ve written about it a few times before. Today we want to get Moments straightened out. There seems to be some confusion as to who can see the photos that you show in your Moments’ albums. Here is the pathway to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):

1. In any area of WeChat, look for the gear icon on the lower right. Press it:

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Settings. Look for the gear icon.

2. Next, scroll down to the word FAQ:

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Scroll down a bit, look for FAQ.

3. Press on the word FAQ and then look for Moments:

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There are several sections for Moments.

4. We would suggest that you read all about Moments before you start using WeChat. We love the app but we can see that some users are having problems with privacy. Look for the FAQ that reads ‘How private is my photo album?’ :

 

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Look for the FAQ on your photo album.

5. Read over this section and make sure you understand it. If you need help, just ask us. We’ll do our best to explain it:

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TIP: If you want to send a photo to someone, then it’s completely private. Use the attachment button (the + icon on the lower right) to attach a photo. That way, only you and the person you send it to can see it. Make sure you choose the right person!

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WeChat Revisited – Translate your chats

We’ve done a couple of posts on WeChat (Weixin in China) in the past and, surprisingly, this free app is much more popular than we thought it would be. We get questions and comments about WeChat on an almost daily basis. Since our last post, WeChat has added support for the Nokia S40 and Symbian phones as well as for the Blackberry. We don’t have a Blackberry phone but we’re going to try WeChat on a Playbook to see if it works. Stay tuned for that post.

For now, we’re looking at translating our chats. Unfortunately, WeChat doesn’t have a built-in translation yet so we’re suggesting that you download Google Translate. Here’s how it works:

1. Obviously you have to download and install Google Translate on your device. It’s free.

2. When you get a chat message in another language, rest your finger on the words on screen for about a second. A bubble will pop up that says ‘Copy’ on it. Press Copy.

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Press the words and Copy pops up. Then press the word Copy.

3. Go back to your main menu, find the Translate app and open it.   Once Translate opens you will see a white window at the top, much like a chat window.

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Press your finger inside the window at the top.

 

 

4. Press that and a keyboard will open at the bottom. Forget the keyboard, press your finger in the white window for about a second. A bubble will pop up that reads ‘Paste’.

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Now press the word Paste.

 

 

5. Press Paste and the words appear in the box:

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The words you want to translate are pasted into the window.

 

6. Press Go down on the lower right.

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Translation is instantaneous.

 

There you go! The words are translated into whatever language you use. You have to remember that this is Google Translate, right? It isn’t perfect by any means. It will, however, give you a good idea of what the person is saying. It’s fast and free, so give it a shot.

 

TIP: Translate can be used in Moments, too. If you see a post in another language, run through the same steps to translate them. Translate will work backwards, too. Write your message in the translate window, press Go and then press the translation and choose Copy. Go back to WeChat and press the message window, then press Paste. Cool huh?

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GPS and Location Setting

Lately, we’ve had a few people comment on one of the fun features of WeChat. People seemed to be having problems with the GPS settings to ‘look around’ for people using WeChat. Here’s a brief explanation.

GPS uses satellites in space to define your location. If you know about triangulation, you’ll understand how it works. The GPS part of your mobile device figures out where it is by accepting signals from satellites that are in a fixed orbit, at least to the rotation of the earth, in space. They are, more or less, locked in one position up there.

You, on the other hand, move around. Because your GPS knows where the satellites are, it knows where you are, right? Remember that the satellites are up in space. It doesn’t matter if you can get wifi where you are or a data/voice signal, the GPS needs to know where the satellites are before it can figure out where you are.

Note: Some cell phones use the widespread mobile phone towers in order to configure GPS location. They may or may not use satellites all the time. For that reason, your cell phone probably works better than, say, an iPod, at least as far as GPS goes.

Knowing all of the above, it makes sense that you can’t be buried in a mineshaft and expect your GPS to work. You have to be near a window or outside for WeChat to figure out where you are and then figure out who’s around you. If you’re inside a multi-story building, your signal is probably quite weak. Keep that in mind when you’re looking around for someone to chat with. The problem isn’t WeChat, it’s your GPS signal (or lack of it).

Here is an image that explains some of the principles of GPS (Global Positioning System):

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Satellites, towers, signals…this is very hi-tech stuff!

 

If you want to, click on the photo and you’ll be taken to the Directions Magazine site for a complete explanation of GPS.

Thanks for reading!