I’m an etiquette expert – you’re sending WhatsApp voice notes totally wrong

THE WAY you send voice notes on WhatsApp might be completely wrong.

According to an etiquette expert, sending a WhatsApp voice note that is over two minutes in length is way too long. 

As part of a series of tips for sending the perfect voice message, British manners expert, Jo Bryant, warns users not to “record a podcast” and instead keep it snappy.

“While everyone has a different opinion on the ideal length of a voice message, try keeping them to 1 or 2 minutes,” she says.

“If it’s too long to type but too short for a call, you’ve found the voice message sweet spot.” 

If you’re on the receiving end of a super long voice note, however, Bryant recommends playing it at 1.5x or 2x speeds so you can listen to it faster.

“Receiving long rambles that could take ten minutes to listen to, or playing a message from a parent out loud on public transport is neither fun nor convenient,” she adds.

“And what about the politics of replying? Do you have to match the length of the received voice note when you respond?”

To help navigate voice message etiquette, Bryant has shared several other tops tips on how to voice note your way through WhatsApp like a pro since “we can forget the importance of etiquette in digital situations”.

Another trick she advises to try is to avoid sending such a long message is to try and break it up. 

“If you really can’t shorten your message, consider breaking it up into shorter ones and sending them separately,” Bryant says. 

This means your recipient can choose to binge-listen in one sitting or squeeze them in around their schedule. 

Bryant adds how you should also be mindful of how many questions you ask in a single voice note so your recipient doesn’t forget half of them when trying to reply.

And if you receive a voice message, try sending one back right away.

“A two-way voice conversation is much better than a one-sided rant,” she adds.

Voice note upgrade

A recent addition to WhatsApp is the ability to pause voice note recording.

It launched on the app earlier this year, and is proving very popular.

First, make sure you've updated to the latest version of WhatsApp.

You can do this through the Apple App Store on iPhone or in the Google Play Store on Android.

Then close and relaunch WhatsApp to make sure you're using the newest version.

Now open up a chat – it doesn't matter if it's an individual or group conversation.

Tap and hold on the voice record feature, then draw upwards to lock it in to "hands free" mode.

Now you'll see that a pause icon has appeared in the bottom-centre of the screen.

You can tap this to pause the recording.

It's even possible to leave the conversation and the app while keeping the recording paused.

And then you can come back to it later and continue.

This is great if you're recording a long message but get interrupted, or need to find out more information.

Or maybe you've simply forgotten what you wanted to say, and need some time to remember.

Whatever the case, it's very easy to pause and come back to it – and the recipient won't know the difference.

The app doesn't flag to the chat when a recording has been paused.

WhatsApp also recently changed the app so that you can keep listening to voice notes even outside of a chat.

So if you start playing a voice message, you can move into another chat and it won't pause playback.

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