Adding a voice status, new reactions, or even previewing a link directly in WhatsApp status… these are some of the new features announced by Meta for its instant messaging service.
Via a brief press release shared on February 7, Meta announces a small burst of new features for WhatsApp… and more particularly for its status system. In all, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm presents us with no less than five features reserved for the status of its instant messaging application only. Some are interesting, but relatively incidental, it must be admitted, while others could prove to be really relevant in everyday life.
As Meta points out as a foreword, each status disappears in 24 hours and can include photos, videos, GIFs, or text, among others. And like conversations, WhatsApp status is protected with end-to-end encryption to allow users to share information securely to their contacts.
Meta wants to boost your WhatsApp statuses
The first of the new features announced by Meta is the appearance of a function allowing you to restrict the display of your status to certain contacts only. It will therefore now be possible to choose precisely who can consult your status each time you update it. In this case, and unless you intervene, the most recent selection will be kept by default for the next statuses.
Meta will also allow you to record and share voice messages up to 30 seconds long, directly on WhatsApp status. The firm also introduces the possibility of adding a reaction to a status via a selection of eight emojis (😍 😂 😮 😥 🙏 👏 🎉 💯). It will of course remain possible to respond to a status by a simple text, by voice message, or by using stickers.
We also learn that a new profile ring will arrive for the statuses on WhatsApp. The idea is to never miss any status shared by a contact… and to do this, Meta intends to install this ring around the profile picture of your contacts in chat lists, group participant lists or news. of profiles.
Last novelty, the links added to the statuses will now give rise to a visual preview of its 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.
Note that these new features are currently being rolled out globally. These changes for WhatsApp statuses should therefore appear in your home over the next few weeks, if they haven’t already.
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