Today on WhatsApp’s 8th birthday, the status feature has been reinvented. No more boring one liners anymore saying “Hey there I’m using WhatsApp!”. Now users can update their status just like Snapchat and Instagram. We can use emojis, draw on photos and add captions and what not!
The new Status feature is more or like the Snapchat stories which allows you to share photos and videos with your friends and contacts on WhatsApp in an easy and secure way. Yes, even your status updates are end-to-end encrypted. The new and improved status feature will let you keep your friends who use WhatsApp easily updated in a fun and simple way.
See Also: How to enable Whatsapp 2 step verification
Here’s what you need to know about the WhatsApp’s new status feature.
How to View your Friend’s Status?
- To view a Status uploaded by your friend, first open the Status tab. A list of friends who’ve shared a Status will fill in.
- Touch the screen to pause a Status, giving you more time to view it, tap to skip through a Status, or swipe left to go to the next person.
- Swipe up on a status to reply to the Status you are currently viewing.
How to Create a new WhatsApp Status
- Open WhatsApp and select the Status tab.
- Tap on “My Status”.
- Take a new photo/video or select an existing photo/video.
- Now add a personal touch and edit your photo/video as you like using the emojis, drawing pen and text. (Make it as fun as you can)
- Once you’re done hit the Send button and you’re ready to roll.
A word on Privacy
WhatsApp includes privacy settings, giving you complete control over who sees your Status. By default, only your contacts can view your Status, but the privacy settings can be customized as per your preference.
Under the Status tab tap on Privacy. (Android users, tap the menu button > Status Privacy.)
You will see three options here to customize your privacy settings:
- My Contacts: All of your WhatsApp contacts can view your Status.
- My Contacts Except: Restrict the people you don’t want to show your Status and share your status with the rest of the contact list.
- Only Share with: It same as sending private messages, select only with the contacts you want to show your Status to.
Just keep in mind that if you already uploaded a new status, the new settings will only impact your future updates and not the current one.
How to find out who’s viewing your Status?
A view counter is placed at the bottom of your screen, showing you how many people have seen your status. Swipe up on the screen will give you the list of contact names who have viewed your Status.
So here was putting a snapchat touch in your WhatsApp account! Hope you loved this new avatar of your all time fav messaging application. Share your feedback in the comments section below.
We’d love to hear from you!