WhatsApp is an internationally available centralized instant messaging platform owned by Meta. It allows users to send encrypted texts, and voice messages, share images, and make voice and video calls. On Tuesday, February 7, WhatsApp announced that it will be updating the features of its status functionality globally in a few weeks.
New WhatsApp Services/Features
Let’s take a look at these exciting new features-
Share status with select users- WhatsApp has observed that users of their global chatting platform are not keen on updating their status as they are not comfortable with sharing it with all of their contacts. Therefore, they have come up with a new feature that will allow the user to select a few contacts that can view the Status. Users can use this feature by changing their privacy setting option for each status created. Usually, the app will select the last preference contacts as the default for the new status.
Voice status- This unique feature allows users to update their status by leaving voice messages as their status. This feature will work exactly as the voice messages feature in the chat. However, the voice status can only be 30 seconds long.
Status Reactions- Reacting to statuses will be made easier with the addition of this new feature. With this feature, WhatsApp users just need to swipe up and tap on one of the emojis to react to the status. The features to reply with text, voice messages, and stickers still remain.
Status Profile Rings- Now, whenever a person updates their status, there will be a status profile ring around their profile picture. The user will be able to see this ring in the chat list, contact info section, and group participants lists.
Link previews on status- WhatsApp has announced that they are adding a new feature that will improve the user experience as the user will be able to see a visual preview of the link content and provide a better idea of what the link is about before even clicking on it.
Audio Transcription Feature Coming Soon
WhatsApp has announced that the latest beta version of WhatsApp for iPhone will have a transcription feature for audio messages. While this feature is in the early beta stage, once it is actually implemented, with this feature the app will be able to transcribe the audio content into text. At this point, it is unclear when this feature will be made available to Android users. However, this feature will be free to all users whenever it is released unlike in Telegram, where this feature is only available to Telegram Premium subscribers.
WhatsApp Also Announced A Block Shortcut Feature
In January, WhatsApp announced that it is going to roll out a new ‘Block Shortcut’ feature which will enable users to block unknown and untrusted contacts without having to open the conversation. This feature was specifically designed to block unwanted contacts more easily and quickly.
It also helps the users block unknown contacts before they are able to access sensitive information. This feature is a slew of new features that WhatsApp is introducing to prevent spam and make its users’ private information safe and secure.
