In a nod to its past as well as its future, WhatsApp is adding a status feature that lets users tell their contacts what they are up to.
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It’s not a new idea — WhatsApp started out as a way for people to let their friends know what they are up to — at work or available, for example. Messaging, now the app’s main function, was added later.
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But it’s also a sign that the Facebook-owned app is expanding the amount of features it has, just as Instagram, another Facebook subsidiary, has been doing over the years.
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Users will be able to post photos or videos as status updates.
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WhatsApp says the status posts will be end-to-end encrypted , just as its messages are. That means only the parties who are communicating can see the messages, not an outside party or even WhatsApp.
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But the company sees status as a way to share moments with all your contacts — not just with individuals or groups. Updates will expire after 24 hours. There is a privacy setting allowing users to control who sees the updates.
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WhatsApp has more than 1 billion users. The company says its users spend more than 50 billion messages each day, including 3.3 billion photos, 760 million videos and 80 million GIFs — the animated images that make many popular internet memes.
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iImage Credit: iStock./i