TL;DR – Here’s how you can make use of Whatsapp’s latest updates.
Whatsapp’s finally letting us express ourselves through the power of formatted text. Your emphasis can now be made more concisely by adding symbols on the side of your words.
Get ahead of the game, and show your friends how it’s done.
BOLD
Add a * on either side of your words. Eg: “*bold*” will look something like this:
ITALICS
Add a _ on either side of your words. Eg: “_italics_” will look something like this:
STRIKETHROUGH
Add a ~ on either side of your words. Eg: “~strikethrough~” will look something like this:
Sadly, these changes don’t reflect on Whatsapp Web, so be sure to explain to your uninformed friends _why_ you’re *writing* like ~this.
It seems that the updates haven’t been rolled out fully just yet, so if you’re adding *stars* without any changes, just hang tight and wait for the updates to come to you.
Not on “either” side of the word. It should be on BOTH SIDES of the word.