2019 came with many surprises tech wise, but one of the most noteworthy novelties comes from WhatsApp Messenger. With more than a billion users all over the planet, WhatsApp became over the course of time one of the most beloved messaging app. And this year the app prepared its users a bundle of updates boost up its performance. The updates will be available not only for Android, but also for iOS users.
WhatsApp Messenger’s anticipated updates
One of the important updates is the touch ID and face ID that can be used to unlock WhatsApp. This feature came as a deterrent against third parties to go through your messages.
Another important update refers to privacy settings when it comes to groups. This long-awaited update is intended to aid users to control who can and cannot invite you in a group. WhatsApp users have the opportunity to accept or deny a group invitation over a period of three days. There will be three preferences: ‘nobody’ (which means that the user will have to accept each invitation), ‘my contacts’ (which means that only the contacts will be able to add you) and ‘everyone’.
Other new updates will restrict persistent forwards. Forwarded messages started to become a problem as they can consist of information that cannot be verifiable and may lead to fake news, among other things. This is why the app brought forward a forwarding limit. Users will not be able to forward a message more than five times. Also, people can see how often the message was forwarded.
A change will also be with the new web and desktop features. Due to the thriving WhatsApp Business app, some characteristics of this app are going to be included to the desktop and web version. Some of these elements are the Quick Replies, labels and chat list filtering.
Among other features are the contacts ranking, dark mode and hide status.
Users will also be able to share their WhatsApp Messenger status on social-media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Gmail and Google Photos. There is no need to link all these accounts in order to share your status.
Dorothy has been a journalist for ten years and has been working with the Tech News Watch staff since the beginning of the news site. Her main contribution to Tech News Watch are mobile, IT and science news, with a focus on software updates and great outer space discoveries.