WhatsApp, on its 8th birthday, rolls out new Status feature. Here’s a quick guide

Users can not only control who can see their WhatsApp status update but also people who have viewed theirs by tapping the eye icon

By: News Desk |
February 24, 2017 4:40 pm

To celebrate its eighth birthday, WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app that allows you to exchange messages without any SMS charge, has launched a new Status feature. This new update from the instant messaging application will let the users upload photos and videos for their contacts to see, instead of a simple text-based status message. The feature is now live on Android, iOS and Windows smartphones across the world.

WhatsApp’s new status feature, which is totally inspired by Snapchat’s stories, was announced earlier this week by the California-based company. The new “status” feature lets users share photos, GIFs or videos overlaid with drawings, emojis and a caption that will be visible to selected friends for 24 hours before disappearing. According to a WhatsApp blog, status updates will also be end-to-end encrypted.

“This new and improved status feature will let you keep your friends who use WhatsApp easily updated in a fun and simple way,” the blog read on Thursday.

Users can control who can see their status update by selecting among the three options in WhatsApp’s privacy settings. Users can also see who has viewed their status update by tapping the eye icon at the bottom of any status update.