WhatsApp Text Formatter
Paste your message, select the words you want to stand out and click a style. WhatsApp supports its own markup, so you can switch between native formatting and Unicode styles that work anywhere.
Select part of your text to style only that part. With nothing selected, the style applies to the whole message. Styled letters are Unicode characters, so they survive pasting into WhatsApp, but screen readers may read them letter by letter, so keep emphasis to a few words.
How to format text on WhatsApp
- Paste or type your message in the box above.
- Select a word, a sentence or a whole line. With nothing selected, the style applies to everything.
- Click Bold, Italic, Underline or one of the other styles. Use the WhatsApp native markup tab for formatting WhatsApp renders itself.
- Add bullets with the •, → or ✔ buttons: they prefix every selected line.
- Copy the result and paste it into WhatsApp, or send it straight to the scheduler.
Does bold text work on WhatsApp?
WhatsApp has native formatting: *asterisks* for bold, _underscores_ for italic, ~tildes~ for strikethrough, three backticks for monospace, plus bullet lists, numbered lists, block quotes and inline code. Unicode fonts are used for profile names and statuses, which have no formatting.
WhatsApp supports *bold*, _italic_, ~strikethrough~, ```monospace```, bullet lists, numbered lists and quotes with simple markup. Unicode fonts work for names and statuses.
Formatting tips for WhatsApp
- Type "- " for a bullet, "1. " for a numbered list, "> " for a quote.
- Use bold for the first line and for one phrase per paragraph. Whole paragraphs in bold read as shouting and are skipped.
- Styled letters are Unicode symbols. Screen readers spell them out one at a time, and WhatsApp search does not match them: keep any keyword you want found in plain text.
- The message limit is 65,536 characters.
WhatsApp character limits (2026)
| Field | Limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Message | 65,536 | |
| Status text | 700 | |
| About | 139 | |
| Profile name | 25 | |
| Group name | 100 | |
| Group description | 2,048 | |
| Channel description | 2,048 | |
| Broadcast list | 256 | Recipients |
Formatting support on WhatsApp
WhatsApp supports *bold*, _italic_, ~strikethrough~, ```monospace```, bullet lists, numbered lists and quotes with simple markup. Unicode fonts work for names and statuses.
Type "- " for a bullet, "1. " for a numbered list, "> " for a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is the WhatsApp text formatter free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, there is no signup and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Why does the bold text look different on some phones?
The styled characters come from the Unicode "Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols" block. Every modern phone and browser has them, but older Android keyboards and some email clients render them in a slightly different typeface.
Will formatted text hurt my reach on WhatsApp?
WhatsApp does not penalise Unicode characters. What can hurt is readability: a post that is mostly styled text gets skipped, and styled keywords are invisible to search. Use it for emphasis, not decoration.
Can I add bullet points to a WhatsApp message?
Type "- " for a bullet, "1. " for a numbered list, "> " for a quote. The bullet buttons above add the symbol to the start of each selected line.
Can I undo the formatting?
Select the text and click "Clear formatting": it converts styled characters back to plain letters.
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