Adding a voice status, new reactions or even previewing a link directly in the WhatsApp status… are some of the new features announced by Meta for its instant messaging service.
Through a short press release shared on February 7, Meta announces a small flurry of new features for WhatsApp… and more particularly for its status system. In total, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm presents us with no less than five features reserved solely for the status of its instant messaging application. Some are interesting, but admittedly relatively incidental, while others could be really relevant to everyday life.
As Meta points out by way of a prologue, each status disappears within 24 hours and can include photos, videos, GIFs, or text, among others. And just like conversations, WhatsApp status is protected with end-to-end encryption to allow users to share information securely with their contacts.
Meta wants to boost your WhatsApp states
The first of the novelties announced by Meta is the appearance of a function that will allow you to restrict the display of your status to only certain contacts. Therefore, it will now be possible to choose precisely who can check your status every time you update it. In this case, and unless you intervene, the most recent selection will be kept by default for the following states.
Meta will also allow you to record and share voice messages of up to 30 seconds, directly in the WhatsApp status. The signature also introduces the possibility of adding a reaction to a status through a selection of eight emojis (😍 😂 😮 😥 🙏 👏 🎉 💯). Of course, it will still be possible to respond to a status by means of a simple text, a voice message or through stickers.
We also learned that a new profile ring for WhatsApp statuses is coming. The idea is that you never miss any status shared by a contact… and for this, Meta intends to install this ring around the profile photo of your contacts in chat lists, group participant lists or profile news.
Last new, links added to statuses will now preview their content, just like when you send a message containing a link. The advantage is twofold: improve the visual experience of the statuses (a link alone is ugly) and allow your contacts to have a first idea of what you want to share, before they click on the link in question.
Please note that these new features are currently rolling out globally. So these changes to WhatsApp statuses should appear in your home over the next few weeks, if they haven’t already.
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