How to Wave on Facebook

Quick Answer:

• • Open the list of your friends on the right side of the Facebook home page.
  • Hover over the name of your friend that you want to send the wave.
  • Just click on the waving hand to send it across and wait for your friend to respond.

 

Ever wondered how to Wave on Facebook? The Facebook wave feature is an effective way to break the ice in the digital world. Plus it is a great method to say hello to a person without having to say it.

In this guide, I’ll cover different ways you can wave at strangers or your friends on Facebook. A wave is as simple as it gets.

You don’t have to come up with any words. Just a tap on the screen and you can then strike up a conversation.

Remember the “Poke” feature on Facebook? It allowed you to get the attention of the other person without having to say anything. You can’t use the feature now. Wonder why?

Just like any other feature, the poke feature also got an upgrade. Facebook changed it to “Wave”. Or, you can say it was an upgraded version of “Poke”.

Not only could you wave at a stranger, but Facebook allowed you to wave at your friends as well. And, when someone waves at you, you could instantly wave back.

But, that’s not it. The fact that it’s so simple to do could lead to an accidental wave. You could even undo such waves without the other person knowing it.

However, the “Wave” feature is not available on Facebook anymore. But, there is a way you can wave at your friends and strangers using the emojis option. I’ll be guiding you on that in this article.

Before jumping into the guide on “How to wave on Facebook?”, let’s first see what’s the purpose of the wave function, or why would anyone wave on Facebook.

 

Why Do We Wave on Facebook?

Facebook rolled out the wave feature after discontinuing poke. It gave people an opportunity to connect with people on the social media platform before starting a conversation.

People used to wave at strangers to get their content. For instance, if you wanted to know whether the other person will feel comfortable talking to you, you could wave at them. If they waved back, it was sort of a green signal. You could then start a real conversation.

You could also wave at your existing friends on Facebook. Say you haven’t talked to your Facebook friend for a while and want to connect, you just send a wave to let them know that.

It could also be that a waving hand is more visually appealing than a “hi”. So, having some animation going on in the chat can have a positive first impression on the other person.

 

Did Facebook Discontinue the Wave Feature?

Yes, Facebook discontinued the wave feature. You can’t wave or wave back the way you could back in early 2020.

On 15 March 2020, Facebook removed the wave function from chats. After the march update, you can’t use the classic wave whenever you connect with someone new.

It’s not clear why the social media giant removed the feature or if it will ever come back or not.

However, you can make yourself aware of it if you want. We’ll also see how the latest wave feature (an emoji) works.

Let’s see how the wave feature worked on Facebook messenger before the update.

 

How to Wave on Facebook Messenger?

To use the wave feature on Facebook messenger, you’ll first have to download the app from the PlayStore (Google Play Store for Android users and Apple Playstore for iPhone users).

Once you have opened the Facebook messenger app, look for “people” and click on it. A list of your active friends will appear under the “active” section.

There will be a hand to the right of every chat. Click on it. The hand will pop out and wave at your friend. That’s it. Waving on Facebook messenger is as simple as that.

 

How to Wave on Facebook Desktop?

Not all like to use Facebook on their phones. Some prefer the good old mouse scrolling or the keyboard typing.

As far as the wave feature is concerned, you could send it on the desktop version of Facebook as well.

• • First, you’ll have to sign in to your account, of course.
  • Open the list of your friends on the right side of the Facebook home page.
  • Hover over the name of your friend that you want to send the wave.
  • Just click on the waving hand to send it across and wait for your friend to respond.

 

How to Wave on the Facebook App?

If you aren’t a fan of Facebook messenger, you could also use the wave feature on the Facebook Android app.

Here are the steps to wave on the Facebook app:

• • Launch the app and fill in your credentials
  • Look for the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) and tap on it
  • A list of options will show up. Look for “messenger” and tap on it
  • If you don’t see it, tap on “see more”.
  • Once you are in messenger, follow the steps discussed in the previous section to send a wave to your friend.

How to Wave Back on Facebook?

You won’t want to ignore a friend waving at you with enthusiasm, right? There was a simple way to respond back to a waving friend on Facebook up until 2020.

The chatbox would show both hands waving at each other, providing a way for the conversation to start.

So, what did you have to do to wave back?

When someone waves at you, Facebook sends you a notification

• • You open the chat window
  • You would receive a message “(your friend’s name) is waving at you”
  • You would just tap on the “tap to wave back” option and your friend would receive your wave.

How to Unsend a Wave on Facebook?

It’s possible to send a wave mistakenly. What would you do in such a scenario? There was a way you could undo a wave on Facebook, saving you from embarrassment.

You will, however, just have 10 minutes before the wave becomes permanent.

To undo a wave on Facebook:

• • Go to the chat window of the person
  • Long-tap the mistakenly sent wave until a menu appears
  • You’ll see a “Remove”
  • Tap on it. Then, tap on “Remove for everyone”

Will they know that you sent them a wave even after you deleted it? No! After undo/undoing wave on Facebook, the person you sent it to won’t be notified.

Now you know how to do and undo a wave on Facebook. But, that method was obviously in the past. There is no way to tell if or when the feature will come back.

Let’s see how you can send a wave on Facebook these days.

There is a default emoji at the right of every chat on Facebook. You’ll just have to change that to “Wave”. It’s fairly simple; however, you’ll have to change the default emoji for every chat.

Open a chatbox.

At the top right corner of a chat, you’ll see an “i” button. Click on it.

 

You can then change the default emoji of that chat to “Wave”. Click on “Change Emoji”.

 

A whole list of emojis will appear. You can pick any of them. Select the waving hand if you want to wave at someone.

That’s it. Your default emoji is set to “Wave”. Now, when you open that specific chat, you’ll be able to see the wave emoji at the right.

 

Can You Wave at Someone Who Has Blocked You?

You can wave at anyone on Facebook that’s actively accepting messages. So, when someone blocks you, they are not willing to accept any messages from you. Facebook blocks all possible interactions, making it impossible for you to wave at the person.

To sum up, while you can still use the emoji section of Facebook to wave at anyone, the classic wave function that Facebook used to have isn’t available anymore.

The difference would be that you have to go through the emojis section to select the waving hand every time you want to wave at someone. And, the person won’t be able to wave back either. Of course, they can go to the emoji section and wave back manually.

 

Conclusion

This was a detailed guide about how to wave on Facebook. You learned to wave on the Facebook app, messenger, and desktop.

You could wave at your friends and you could wave at strangers. And, when someone sent you a wave, you could wave back at them by just tapping the “wave back” option in the chatbox.

You could also undo a wave by tapping and holding on the wave and using the “remove for all” option.

The old wave function is discontinued by Facebook for now. And, I am not sure if or when will it come back.

But, if you want to use the wave function, it’s available in the emoji section of the Facebook chat. You can send a hand, which looks like a waving hand. But, it will not wave.