Two ways to style text on WhatsApp
WhatsApp is unusual among chat apps because it has formatting built in. Wrap words in the right symbols and the app turns them bold, italic or struck through when you send the message. That is the first option on this page, and for normal chat messages it is the best one. The text stays searchable and screen readers read it correctly.
The codes have one gap: they only work in messages and captions. Your profile name and your About text ignore them. For those fields you need the second option, Unicode styles, which are letters that already look bold, scripted or fixed-width.
WhatsApp formatting codes
| Effect | Type this |
|---|---|
| Bold | *text* |
| Italic | _text_ |
| Strikethrough | ~text~ |
| Monospace | ```text``` |
| Inline code | `text` |
| Quote | > text |
| Bulleted list | - text or * text |
| Numbered list | 1. text |
The symbols must sit right next to the first and last letter, with no space in between. They can be combined, such as *_bold italic_*.
How to use this page
- Write your message, name or About text in the Your text box.
- For a chat message, go to the WhatsApp’s own formatting section. Each row shows your text wrapped in the right symbols. Press Copy on the one you want and paste it into the chat.
- For your profile name or About, use the large Unicode styles at the top: Monospace, Sans Bold, Script, Small Caps and Double Struck. Press Copy, then paste into WhatsApp settings.
- Scroll to More styles for the full list of Unicode options.
- Press Clear to empty the box.
If your text has several lines, the bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, quote and list rows wrap each line on its own. That way the formatting works on every line instead of breaking at the first line break.
Examples
| Style | Result |
|---|---|
| Monospace | 𝚂𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚝 𝟾 |
| Sans Bold | 𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘁 𝟴 |
| Script | 𝒫𝓇𝒾𝓎𝒶 |
| Small Caps | Bᴜꜱʏ, ᴛᴇxᴛ ᴍᴇ |
| Double Struck | 𝔽𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕡 |
Notice that Script and Small Caps leave the number 8 alone. Those alphabets have no styled digits, so numbers stay normal. Monospace, Sans Bold and Double Struck include their own digits.
Which one to use where
| Place | Formatting codes | Unicode styles |
|---|---|---|
| Chat messages | Yes | Yes |
| Photo and video captions | Yes | Yes |
| Profile name | No | Yes |
| About | No | Yes |
| Group name | No | Yes |
As a rule, use codes for anything you send and Unicode styles for anything you set once in settings. Profile names are short, so a styled name needs to stay brief.
How the Unicode styles work
Every letter you type has a twin in each styled alphabet. Unicode added these twins so that mathematicians could write bold or double-struck symbols as plain text. The generator replaces each letter with its twin. Because the result is just characters, WhatsApp shows it exactly as pasted, with no formatting step.
The formatting codes work the other way round. The characters stay normal, and WhatsApp reads the symbols around them as instructions.
Tips and limits
- Prefer codes in chats. Bold made with asterisks can be searched in your chat history. Unicode bold cannot, because the letters are different characters.
- Think of screen reader users. A group member using a screen reader hears a message formatted with codes as normal words, but may hear a Unicode name as a list of maths symbols. Keep group names readable.
- Check on an older phone. Monospace, bold and script letters have wide support. A few rarer styles from the More styles list may show as boxes on old devices.
- Do not style phone numbers. A number written in styled digits will not be recognised as a number you can tap to call.
If you like the fixed-width look, the typewriter text generator has more on monospace. To cross out text outside WhatsApp, use the strikethrough text generator, and for posts on Facebook see the Facebook font generator.