No, WhatsApp doesn't have a built-in "@silent" command like Discord, but you can achieve silent messaging by turning off sounds in WhatsApp Settings for all chats or muting specific conversations, or by having the recipient mute notifications for your chat, effectively making your messages silent to them.
Silent Messaging on Consumer Platforms
End users can use an @silent tag (or an equivalent toggle) for silent messages on some communication platforms. Discord and Messenger are two applications that have this feature for direct messaging and group chats.
Open an individual chat. Tap the name of the chat. Tap Notifications > turn on Mute. Select the length of time you'd like to mute notifications for, then tap OK.
If you don't want to hear these sounds, you can set your text tone to None.
Muting, hiding or restricting can provide good alternatives to blocking because abusers do not know that they've been muted, hidden, or restricted. Ultimately, only you can decide what feels right for you.
While WhatsApp doesn't explicitly notify users when they've been muted, certain patterns—like delayed responses despite the person being online, or their activity in groups but silence in private chats—can hint at it.
WhatsApp offers more security than text messaging by using end-to-end encryption, which ensures only the sender and receiver can read the messages. But neither option is immune to smishing scams, designed to steal your personal information or get you to click malicious links.
The message 'notifications silenced' appears when the recipient has enabled Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode on their iPhone. This setting mutes alerts for incoming texts, so you see this notification under their message.
To change message or group notification settings:
Tap Conversation tones to toggle conversation tones on or off for incoming and outgoing messages.
Check that your phone's volume isn't low or muted. Turn up your phone's speaker volume and try again. If your device is on vibrate only or silent, playing a video status with audio will also be silent. Try turning up your volume or taking your phone off vibrate or silent.
Alternatively, tap the Silenced unknown caller message within a chat. Note: If you call or message the silenced caller, you won't be able to silence their calls in future. You can stop receiving calls from other WhatsApp users by blocking them.
For Android Users