Daily Times

WhatsApp, the world’s largest messaging app with over 1.2 billion monthly active users is introducing WhatsApp status, a new way for users to share moments with friends and family throughout their day via photos, videos, and GIFS.

As part of their eighth anniversary, WhatsApp is introducing a reinvented status feature so users can send and receive status updates, with people they know. It all starts with the recently redesigned WhatsApp camera where people share photos, videos, and GIFs that can be personalised with emoji, text, and drawings. With Status, it’s simple to share moments with all contacts – not just with individuals or groups. As soon as a user opens the new Status tab, you’ll see updates from friends and family who are WhatsApp users in the address book. Friends’ updates can be replied to privately and viewing of content can also be controlled. All updates expire after 24 hours. And like other types of messages, contacts can be put to mute or unmute at any time. WhatsApp status will be available soon around the world for iPhone, Android, and Windows phone users.

When WhatsApp launched nearly eight years ago, it started as an app for sharing status updates, where people could type a short line of text to let their friends know what they were up to. When it was noticed that people were using the feature to communicate in real time, the team redesigned WhatsApp as a messaging app. Today, people still use WhatsApp to let their friends and loved ones know what they’re up to – not just through words, but through photos and videos. 50 billion messages are sent each day in WhatsApp; this includes over 3.3 billion photos, 760 million videos, and 80 million GIFs. And over the last year, the number of images has doubled and the number of videos has tripled.