Part 1 of 3: Registering an Account
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Register an account. Open WeChat. Touch the Sign Up button. On the Sign Up screen, choose the region you live in, and then, in the Mobile number field, type your mobile phone number. Touch Sign Up. When it asks you to confirm your number, check your number, and then touch Confirm.
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Verify the account. WeChat will send you a text message with a four digit verification code. In the Enter code field, type the verification code, and then touch Submit.
If you didn’t get a verification code, touch No verification code received?, and then touch Resend to get another text message or touch Phone Call to get an automated phone call with the verification code.
According to the WeChat Terms of Service, you need to be at least 13 years old and have your parents permission to use WeChat.
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Set Up a WeChat Profile. On the Setup Profile screen, in the Full Name field, type a name.
On this screen, you can also choose a photo for your account. This is optional.
You can type whatever name you want to use in the Full Name field.
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Find your friends on WeChat. On the Find Friends screen, WeChat will ask you if you want to Find WeChat Friends. If you agree to this, WeChat will upload the names, phone numbers, and email addresses in your phone to the WeChat servers in order to find your friends using WeChat.[3]
Touch Learn more to learn more about how WeChat will use your friends’ contact information.
If you choose not to do this now, you can always do it later. If you choose not to do this, you can add friends manually.
Part 2 of 3: Adding Friends
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Open WeChat and touch Contacts. If you let WeChat look at your contacts list, WeChat will use that information to search for other WeChat users you might know.
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Touch Recommended Friends.
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Touch Add next to anyone you want to add. These contacts will be added to your list of friends.
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To find friends using their phone number, touch + in the top right corner.
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Touch Add Friends.
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In the search field, type the phone number of a friend who you know has WeChat. You can also search by WeChat ID.
The WeChat ID is the name you typed in the Full Name field when you created a WeChat account.
You can also search for users by QQ ID, which is the most popular messaging app in China, but unless you have friends in China, this probably won’t be useful to you.
Part 3 of 3: Using WeChat
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Send a message. Touch Contacts, then touch a friend’s name, and then touch Messages to open a chat. Type a message in the message field, and then touch Send.
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Add an emoticon to a message. Type your message, and then touch the smiley face button. Touch an emoticon to choose it.
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Send a photo or video. To the right of the message field, touch the + button, and then touch Images to send an image. If you’ve given WeChat access to your camera roll, you’ll see your photos and videos. Touch a photo to add it to your message. If you want, you can type a message with your photo. Touch Send.
On iOS, the first time you try to send a photo or video from your camera roll, it will ask you if it can access your photos. You can change this setting in your iOS Settings app by scrolling down to the WeChat settings, and then changing the Privacy settings.
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Take a photo or video to send. To the right of the message field, touch the + button, and then touch the Camera button to take a photo or video. Take a photo or record some video, and then touch Use Photo. WeChat will send the photo or video.
Be careful when sending video, because those files can get quite large.
On iOS, the first time you try to take a photo or video using WeChat, it will ask you if it can access the Camera app. You can change this setting in your iOS Settings app by scrolling down to the WeChat settings, and then changing the Privacy settings.
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Make a voice or video call. In addition to sending text messages, images, and video, you can also use WeChat to make voice or video calls. Touch the + button, and then touch Voice Call or Video Call.
If the person you’re trying to call has not added you as a friend, you won’t be able to make a voice or video call.
If you’re not on a Wi-Fi network, voice and video calls will use your cell phone data plan. A video call, especially, could quickly use up your data plan.