Facebook-owned WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps with over 1.2 billion users worldwide and 200 million users in India alone. In order to stay relevant in today’s environment, WhatsApp seems to have brought many changes like new Status feature. The app continues to update itself introducing new changes to enhance user experience.
There are many new features that WhatsApp received since the debut of this year which includes:
WhatsApp Status:
WhatsApp status was launched earlier this year and is similar to Snapchat Status and Instagram Stories feature. The new WhatsApp Status feature allows usual text status to be replaced with multiple photos, video or even text. All the media updated in the Status disappears automatically by 24 hours. The feature has become extremely popular that many users have started communicating through the Status.
Share Live Location:
A interesting feature that WhatsApp brought this year is live location sharing feature that lets users share their whereabouts in real time with family and friends. The live location can be shared in both individual and group chats and doesn’t require active app use. There is also a Live until option that lets users restrict the time limit for tracking, and the maximum limit is up to 8 hours.
Delete for Everyone:
WhatsApp brought the much need Delete for Everyone feature very recently, and this feature allows users to delete messages that have been sent by mistake. The feature is applicable to both individual and group chats. All file types such as messages, images, videos, or any other files for that matter can be deleted with this option.
Video Streaming:
WhatsApp has brought a cool feature which gives an ability to users to watch a video while the same is being downloaded in the back. In addition, WhatsApp is said to be testing in-app YouTube playback wherein users can watch videos within the app itself. The videos can be watched either in full-screen mode or picture-in-picture mode.
Two Step Verification:
The messaging platform also brought a two-step verification process to all users as an additional security feature. The feature allows a user to verify their number whenever they install WhatsApp on a new device in a more secure way. A six-digit passcode is required from users when registering their number with WhatsApp again.
Increase in media sharing limit:
Earlier, WhatsApp limited sharing of media files such as photos to just ten images at a time. The media sharing limit has been increased to 30 items this year. This allows for more flexibility while sending multiple media files at a single time.
Photo Bundling:
The photo bundling option in WhatsApp allows users to send photos and videos as an album. The app groups together the photos into a bunch so that the recipient gets the photos as a bundle and not one after the other. This allows easy download of the album than on a per photo basis.
Pinned Chats:
An useful feature introduced by WhatsApp this year is pinned chats, which allows you to pin a chat on top, instead of searching for it. This would be very useful for people who messages a person very often.
On top of these, WhatsApp is working on two more major features- WhatsApp for Business (which is already in testing stages), and WhatsApp Pay which allows the users to make P2P transactions right from the app itself. It will be based on UPI. 2018 would be another great year for WhatsApp with more and more features incoming. What do you expect from WhatsApp in 2018? Let us know by commenting below.
