WhatsApp text formatting: every code, on every app

WhatsApp formats text from the characters you type around it: an asterisk on each side for *bold*, an underscore for _italic_, a tilde for ~strikethrough~, three backticks for monospace. Since February 2024 it also reads a hyphen or asterisk and a space for a bulleted list, a number and full stop for a numbered list, an angle bracket for a quote, and a single backtick for inline code. WhatsApp's help centre notes there is no option to switch formatting off.

Below: the full table of codes, the menu shortcut on each app, what combines and what doesn't, the eight reasons formatting usually fails, and the one contradiction in WhatsApp's own documentation. Checked against WhatsApp's help centre in October 2026.

Every WhatsApp formatting code

The codes are plain characters, which is why they survive the trip between apps. A message typed on an Android phone arrives formatted on an iPhone, on WhatsApp Web and in the desktop apps, because what travels is the asterisk, not a styling instruction.

The menu shortcut on each app

You do not have to type the marks. Every app has a selection menu that inserts them, and the three differ enough to be worth listing separately.

Note what the menus leave out. None of them offers lists or quotes, and the web menu swaps Monospace for Inline code. For a bullet, a number or a quote you type the characters yourself, on every app.

Lists, quotes and inline code

These four arrived in February 2024 and behave differently from the first five: they work only at the very start of a line, and they each need a space after the mark.

• A bullet takes a hyphen or an asterisk and a space: - text or * text. Both produce the same bullet.
• A numbered line takes a number, a full stop and a space: 1. text.
• A quote takes an angle bracket and a space: > text. WhatsApp sets the line off with a bar down the side.
• Inline code takes a single backtick on each side, for a short fixed-width snippet inside a sentence.

Because a list mark has to start a line, a bullet typed mid-sentence is left alone. That also means an asterisk at the start of a line becomes a bullet rather than the opening of a bold run, which is the quiet cause of a lot of mangled messages.

Can you combine bold and italic on WhatsApp?

Yes, by nesting the marks. *_this_* reads as bold and italic together, and ~*this*~ as struck-through bold. The order does not matter as long as each pair opens and closes cleanly around the text.

Monospace is the exception. Three backticks tell WhatsApp to show their contents exactly as typed, so an asterisk inside them stays an asterisk. That is also the trick for sending a literal mark: wrap it in monospace and WhatsApp stops interpreting it.

Why is my WhatsApp formatting not working?

Almost every failure is one of these, in rough order of how often it catches people:

• A space between the mark and the text. * text * does nothing; *text* works.
• The mark sits inside a word. A file name like report_final_v2 is left alone on purpose, so nothing turns italic halfway through.
• A list or quote mark that isn't at the start of its line, or has no space after it.
• A style spread over several lines. If it doesn't show, give each line its own pair of marks.
• The text is inside three backticks, where nothing is interpreted.
• Only one of the pair was typed, so WhatsApp has nothing to close.
• An old WhatsApp. Lists, quotes and inline code arrived in February 2024, so update the app if those four do nothing.
• The text was pasted from a word processor. WhatsApp reads the characters, not the styling, so bold pasted from a document arrives plain.

If you would rather see the result before you send it, our WhatsApp text formatter previews the message and copies the marked-up version to your clipboard.

The contradiction in WhatsApp's own documentation

Worth knowing if you go looking for the official page. WhatsApp's help centre article carries a note on its Web version saying "New text formatting is only available on Web and Mac desktop", yet the Android and iPhone versions of the same article document lists, quotes and inline code in full. As of October 2026 the note has not been removed.

Treat the note as stale rather than as a limit, and test on the app you actually use. If a bullet or a quote does nothing on your phone, the likeliest cause is an old WhatsApp, not a missing feature.

Where formatting earns its keep

Formatting is worth the keystrokes in the places people skim. A group description with a bold first line and a short bulleted list gets read where a paragraph does not. A group welcome message that numbers its three house rules is followed more often than one that buries them in prose.

The same holds for anything you send repeatedly: a price, a cut-off time or an address in bold is the line someone scrolls back to find. If you keep reusing the same wording, WhatsApp Business quick replies stores the marked-up version so you type it once.

One limit to plan around: the marks are part of the message text, so they count toward whatever character limit you are writing against, and they are visible to anyone whose app is too old to render them.

More on this: what inline code is.