How to change the language on WhatsApp: Step by step instructions

You can change the language for both the menu and the WhatsApp keyboard. However, since WhatsApp uses the language settings of the device you’re using, you’ll need to switch the language in your system settings for Android (under “Language & input”) or iOS (under “Language & region”) to add or change WhatsApp languages.

Android:

1. Open “Settings” > “System”
2. Tap on “Languages & input”
3. Under “Add a language”, select the language you want.
4. The selected language will appear first as the system language.
5. To change the keyboard language, go to “On-screen keyboard”.

iOS:

1. Open “Settings” > “General”
2. Tap “Language & Region”
3. Go to “iPhone Language”
4. Select your preferred language from the list.
5. Confirm with “Use (...) language”.
6. The selected language will be displayed under “preferred language order” at the top.

Sooner or later, you may notice that the most successful messenger in the world, with around two billion users, does not have its own language setting. There is a simple reason for this: The app’s language adapts to the language setting of the device on which WhatsApp is installed. This applies to the classic Messenger app for Android and iOS as well as to the web and desktop versions of WhatsApp.

So, if you accidentally changed the language on the smartphone or need to change the WhatsApp language for a short time, you have to adjust or add the language in the smartphone settings. There you can also change the WhatsApp menu language and/or the WhatsApp keyboard language. If you use WhatsApp for Mac or WhatsApp for PC as a desktop app, the language settings of your smartphone will also be relevant.

Adhere to the following steps to change your language settings in WhatsApp on Android.

Step 4: Once you have added a language or drag up a selected language as your preferred system language, the Android language will change automatically. WhatsApp will also adjust the language display automatically.

Step 5: If you want to change the layout of the on-screen keyboard, tap “On-screen keyboard” under “Language & input” and select the layout you want.

Follow these steps to change the WhatsApp language on iOS.

Step 4: Now a list will open with all the languages available for selection. Tap on the language you need in the list.

Step 5: You will now be asked if you want to use the selected language. Confirm with “Use (...) language”.

Step 6: The selected language will now automatically become the iOS system language. You will also find it at the top of the “preferred language order” list. If you want to select another language from the preferred language list, tap and drag it to the top of the list.

Step 7: If you want to change the layout of the iOS keyboard and thus the WhatsApp keyboard language, select the following path: “Settings” > “General” > “Keyboard”. There, tap on “Keyboards”. You will now see the currently used keyboard layout. To change it, tap on “Add keyboard” and select the desired language from the list for iPhone keyboards.