How to Use WeChat

Register an account. Open WeChat. Tap the Sign Up button. On the Sign Up screen, select your country of residence and enter your phone number in the phone number field. Tap Sign Up. When prompted to confirm your phone number, review it and tap Confirm.

Verify your account. WeChat will send you a text message containing a four-digit verification code. Enter this code in the Enter code field and tap Submit.

• If you don't receive the verification code, you can tap on No verification code received? and choose Resend to receive another message or Phone Call to get an automated call with the code.
• According to WeChat's terms of service, you must be at least 13 years old and have parental consent to use this service.

Set up your WeChat profile. On the Setup Profile screen, enter your name in the Full Name field.

• You can optionally choose a profile picture at this stage.
• You are free to use any name you prefer in the Full Name field.

Find friends on WeChat. On the Find Friends screen, WeChat will ask if you want to find friends. If you agree, WeChat will upload the names, phone numbers, and email addresses from your phone to its servers to identify contacts who are already using WeChat.

• Tap Learn more to understand how WeChat uses your contact information.
• If you choose not to find friends now, you can do so later. You can also manually add friends at any time.

Open WeChat and tap the Contacts button. Once you grant access to your contacts, WeChat will use this information to find other users who may be your acquaintances.

Tap Add next to anyone you want to add. These individuals will be added to your friends list.

In the search field, enter the phone number of a WeChat user you know. You can also search using a WeChat ID.

• A WeChat ID is the name you entered in the Full Name field when creating your WeChat account.
• You can also find WeChat users by their QQ ID – the most popular messaging app in China. However, unless you have friends in China, this method may not be useful to you.

Send a message. Tap the Contacts button, select a friend's name, and then tap Messages to open the chat window. Type your message in the text field and tap Send.

Add emojis to your message. Type your message and tap the smiley face button. You can then select an emoji to include in your message.

Send photos or videos. To the right of the message field is a + button. Tap it, then tap Images to send a photo. If you grant WeChat access to your Camera Roll, you can view and select photos or videos directly within the app. Tap the photo you want to send, and you can also include a message with it. Tap Send to share it.

• On iOS, the first time you attempt to send a photo or video from your Camera Roll, WeChat will ask for permission to access your photos. You can modify this setting in the iOS Settings app by scrolling to WeChat and adjusting the Privacy settings.

Take a photo or video to send. To the right of the message field is a + button. Tap it, then tap the Camera button to take a photo or record a video. Tap Use Photo, and WeChat will send the photo or video you just captured.

• Be cautious when sending videos, as these files can be quite large.
• On iOS, the first time you attempt to send a photo or video from your Camera Roll, WeChat will ask for permission to access your photos. You can modify this setting in the iOS Settings app by scrolling to WeChat and adjusting the Privacy settings.

Make voice or video calls. In addition to sending text messages, photos, and videos, you can also use WeChat for voice or video calls. Tap the + button and select Voice Call or Video Call.

• If someone hasn't added you as a friend, you won't be able to make voice or video calls to them.
• When Wi-Fi isn't available, WeChat will use your mobile data for voice and video calls. These, especially video calls, can quickly consume your 3G or 4G data allowance.