WhatsApp's New Update Will Improve Chat Privacy and Status Updates
WhatsApp will roll out several new significant updates to improve privacy and user engagement in WA status.
This leak was first published by leaker WABetaInfo, as quoted from Android Authority, Wednesday (3/4/2024).
The first update is WhatsApp's attempt to improve chat privacy by bringing a locked chat feature to linked devices.
This feature was spotted in the WhatsApp Beta Android update version 2.24.8.4, which is available on the Google Play Store.
Now, the ability to lock chats with a secret code is limited to the primary device, so potentially sensitive conversations can be exposed on linked devices.
With this update, users will be able to protect sensitive WhatsApp chats on all connected devices.
To initiate the locked chat feature on a linked device, users need to create a secret code in the chat lock settings on their primary device.
Once this code is configured, locked chats will remain hidden from the standard chat list and can only be accessed after entering the secret code on the linked device.
Mention Friends on WhatsApp Status
WhatsApp is also introducing a new way to interact with status updates. Users can mention specific contacts in their status posts privately.
This feature is available in WhatsApp Beta for iOS 24.7.10.71, with this feature, WhatsApp is able to increase interaction and remind certain contacts when they are mentioned in a shared status.
When a contact is mentioned/mentioned, a notification notification will be sent to the previously mentioned contact.
These notifications are only sent to contacts mentioned in WhatsApp Status, ensuring that mentions remain confidential.
This is different from mentions on Instagram Stories, which can be seen by other people.
This update is currently in development, but the WhatsApp feature will be widely available through the update.
The appearance of WhatsApp on Android has changed
Apart from updates regarding privacy and status, WhatsApp is now changing the appearance of the application on Android devices.
Quoting information from GSM Arena, this WhatsApp design change was made to the position of the tabs displayed in the application. If previously the menu tab was placed at the top, now its position has been moved to the bottom.
"Meet your new navigation tool, closer to your thumb and comfortable to look at," wrote WhatsApp via the official social media account of Meta's chat application.
Apart from being moved to the bottom, the menu tab arrangement in the WhatsApp application on Android has also changed. Now, users will find the Chats, Updates, Communities, and Calls tabs.
For your information, the Updates tab replaces the previous Status tab. Apart from that, WhatsApp has also added icons to each tab, different from previously which were only available on the Communities tab.
Other changes have also been made to the background color across tabs. If previously it was green, now the background of all tabs is white, so it looks the same as the chat column.
Several users have felt changes in the appearance of WhatsApp
Based on Tekno MasterWeb's monitoring, this navigation change has been going on for several weeks.
A number of Android device users in Indonesia have already experienced this appearance change, but WhatsApp has only announced it now.
As is known, this change in the appearance of the WhatsApp application makes it easier for users to access a number of menu tabs directly. In fact, the tab can be accessed with one hand.