Within days of announcing its remixed “Status” update, WhatsApp has now released it to the world; it was accessible just in Europe when it was first announced. The new WhatsApp Status update is available on iPhone, Android as well as Window devices and is also available in Pakistan.
So, what is the new WhatsApp Status? The new WhatsApp Status feature is the now Mark Zuckerberg owned company’s latest strategy to engage people on its instant messaging platform, and this will be replacing the old text form of status. With the new revamped Status feature, WhatsApp users can now change their status to a short video or photos.
“We are excited to announce that, coinciding with WhatsApp’s 8th birthday on February 24, we are reinventing the status feature,” wrote Jan Koum, CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp, in an announcement blog post earlier this week.
Uh, re-invent? WhatsApp was once a safe-place for those looking for private and one-to-one conversations and liked to stay away from the PDA of Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram. WhatsApp was adored for being a messaging app only but today it looks more or less similar to the other photo-sharing apps likes Instagram or Snapchat.
Where’s my good ol’ status update, man? Well, that is the question everyone has on their minds. WhatsApp has removed the old status update feature that people used with their display picture. The app, after the update, no more shows the old status. Instead, you can now only see your username and the phone number.
To all those people who used their status as a subtle medium to inform their contacts about their absence or availability in town, WhatsApp’s new feature won’t help them.
WhatsApp’s new status update has no place for words. This is the second big problem with this update. The new WhatsApp Status update allows you to share photos, videos and Gifs but no texts. You cannot ‘post’ any text Status, which is rather strange. If you want to say something you have to say it with photos. For what used to be a form of expression, WhatsApp has done a poor job in replacing it.
Love, hate, friendship, heartbreak, you name it, but only in 24 hours. This is what the new WhatsApp feature wants from you. The new update does not allow you update text statuses. At the same time, it also won’t let you keep the status for more than 24 hours. In the form of an example, let’s say you’re on a holiday and have decided to go to Hunza. Since you’re on a holiday, you don’t what people bugging you all the time so you upload a WhatsApp status telling them such. *24 hours pass* Boom. The status has disappeared. Time to upload a new one telling people the same thing? Sounds painful. And boring.
Where’s the contacts list? This is another big question users have on their minds. Do you remember the old-looking WhatsApp? If yes, then you would also remember that there used to be a contacts tab just next to the Chat tab. Try finding the tab now. The updated WhatsApp no more shows the contact tab where you could find all your contacts. Instead, you now have to click a logo in the shape of a piece of text on the top right corner of your screen to be able to see your contacts (without their text statuses, of course.)
How’re YOU finding the latest update by the people at WhatsApp? Let us know in the comments below!
