WhatsApp is showering its Status updates with love, with a slw of beta tested additions now being rolled out to general public. In a blog post on Tuesday, the Meta-owned messaging service revealed that it is bringing a fresh set of features that are aimed to make Status more attractive and appealing to users.
“We’re excited to add a set of new features to status on WhatsApp that make it easier to express yourself and connect with others,” WhatsApp noted in the blog post. These new features include the ability to set voice notes as status updates, a Private Audience Selector, and others. These updates, according to WhatsApp, have already started rolling out to users across the globe and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.
The new “Private Audience Selector” gives users the ability to select the privacy settings for each status they share. With this, they have a greater degree of control over who can and who cannot view their status each time they update it. WhatsApp will save their most recent audience selection and use it as the default for their next status update. This feature is perfect when they share multiple status updates, and all of them may not always be right for all of their contacts. The new audience selector button opens a menu to let users control the visibility of their status updates.
One of the most interesting features to be added to Status Updates is Voice Status. This feature will allow users to record and share voice messages of up to 30 seconds on WhatsApp Status. The ability to set voice notes as status updates is useful when more personal updates need to be posted and when users are more comfortable talking about it as opposed to typing it. For a long time since WhatsApp Status was first introduced in 2017, users had the option to post images, videos, links, or text as Status Updates. They can record the voice notes by tapping the microphone icon on the status screen, adding a more personal touch to the status updates. This feature was in beta testing with WhatsApp’s Android and iOS users last month.
To add to this, WhatsApp is bringing status reactions to users. Till now, users have had the ability to react to messages – be it text, images, videos, or stickers – in personal and group chats, but now, they can simply reply to any status updates by swiping up and tapping on one of several emojis. WhatsApp claimed that this was “the #1 feature users wanted, following the launch of Reactions last year.”
Furthermore, WhatsApp has widened the availability of status profile rings to all users. The new status profile ring works a lot like the profile ring on Instagram – it will appear around the profile picture of your contact when they share a status update. These status profile rinks will be visible in the chat lists, group participant lists, and contact information as well. Last but not the least, users will also get the ability to see visual previews of link contents when their contacts post links on their WhatsApp status updates. They provide users with a “sneak peek” of what the link contains before they actually click on it.
