WhatsApp provides new standing options, hoping you’ll use them

Meta is including a number of new options to WhatsApp standing, which helps you to submit disappearing photos and different media. As soon as the options roll out over the approaching weeks, you’ll have the ability to react to individuals’s posts with an emoji, restrict who can see your standing, and submit voice messages.

In keeping with an announcement post, the standing emoji reactions work just like how they do on Instagram; while you swipe up on the submit, you get the choice to select from one among eight emoji. (The choices are 😍,😂,😮,😥,🙏,👏,🎉, and 💯.)

Whereas a WhatsApp blog post calls emoji reactions the No. 1 requested function after it launched the ability to react to messages last year, I personally really feel just like the Non-public Viewers Selector is essentially the most helpful addition introduced at the moment. The function enables you to change who can see your statuses, with the choice to point out it to everybody, disguise it from sure contacts, or solely present it to particular individuals. In keeping with Meta, the choices you choose would be the default for the subsequent standing you submit, however you’ll have the ability to change it with out altering the visibility of previous statuses.

Different options are small quality-of-life enhancements. Statuses that embody hyperlinks may also be extra visually interesting — Meta says there’ll now be previews for the location or web page that the hyperlink will take you to. WhatsApp can also be attempting to make it clearer when individuals submit a standing by including a hoop round their profile image within the chat lists, group participant lists, and speak to information screens.

These all seem to be good additions to the standing function, however I do marvel how many individuals will use them. A few of my colleagues who use WhatsApp say they’ve by no means seen anyone submit a standing, and I’ve positively heard extra individuals reference competing merchandise like Tales on Snapchat or Instagram (although it’s value noting that I dwell within the US, the place WhatsApp doesn’t have an enormous maintain). If you happen to’re a WhatsApp person, hold forth within the feedback in the event you or your pals are massive followers of statuses — or if Tuesday’s announcement may entice you to present them a strive.