The messaging application is rolling out several new features for its status function, its version of Instagram stories.
WhatsApp seems to be looking for a solution to make you use its “status”. Launched in 2017, this feature directly inspired by Instagram Stories allows you to share ephemeral content with your loved ones on the messaging application.
You can therefore, like on Instagram, share photos, videos and other content in WhatsApp stories to share them with your entire address book. If you and your contacts are using the feature. While it had hardly moved an iota for a long time, WhatsApp has obviously leaned on it to make it more attractive. The messaging application which likes to remind that its statuses, like all the conversations held in , are encrypted, is in fact in the process of deploying several new functions. A way no doubt to try to give a boost to a function that is little used, if at all.
Audience management, voice status and reactions
Until now, sharing a status on WhatsApp consisted of exposing your private life to all the contacts in your address book, unless you thought about excluding some of them beforehand. From now on, the audience of your WhatsApp stories can be limited status by status. A new option should soon allow you to define the people authorized to see the updates of your statuses. The application will thus rely by default on the last preferences configured by you to limit the audience of your stories.
WhatsApp statuses also welcome a new type of content. You will now be able to share voice statuses of up to thirty seconds, a good way to “ share more personal updates, especially if you are more comfortable speaking than writing “Insists WhatsApp in its press release.
As on Instagram, you can also react to the statuses published by your contacts, and vice versa. You will be able to react quickly to the statuses of your loved ones, and they will be able to do the same with yours, by swiping the screen upwards and selecting one of the eight emojis available in reaction. And if however you feel like it, you can obviously react longer using a text message, a voice note or even stickers.
Unmistakable statuses and preview URLs
To ensure that you and your loved ones will never miss each other’s status again, WhatsApp has found the solution. The application has decided to integrate a status ring around the profile picture of your contacts as soon as they publish an update. You will be able to view who has recently published a WhatsApp story from the Conversation tab, without necessarily having to go to the dedicated tab.
Finally, if you think of sharing a link in one of your statuses, a visual preview of it will be automatically displayed, like when you send a message in a discussion. So don’t expect to be able rickroller your contacts this way.
WhatsApp says these new features are currently rolling out globally and will be available to all users over the next few weeks.
WhatsApp
