Many users of Facebook-owned chat app, WhatsApp were surprised to suddenly see an uploaded status by the app on their devices on Wednesday.
The app which has become an integral part of communication and loved around the globe, helps its users to instantly communicate via text audio and video.
The shocking status from WhatsApp was propelled after its controversial privacy update reportedly made it lose millions of users to Signal and Telegram.
The company explained that it would use its status to show users the latest updates and features on the app.
“Whatsapp is now on Status! We’ll let you know about new features and updates here,” one of the statuses read.
“One thing that isn’t new is our commitment to privacy.” the next slide said. “Whatsapp can’t read or listen to your personal conversations as they are end-to-end encrypted,” the status reads
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The Status features were introduced back in early 2017. It is a remake of Snapchat’s Stories features, which Facebook has since cloned for its apps.
The quest to get a more reliable option pushed many social media lovers to opt for GB WhatsApp, which provides features restricted in the original version.
These features differentiate GB WhatsApp from the original version made by the pioneer developers:
Last Seen
With the original WhatsApp, users can hide information with regards to the last time they were active on the application.
This feature popularly referred to as the ‘last seen’ stops a users’ entire contact list from knowing when a user is online.
With the GB version, users can select who to hide their last seen from, so that they do not have to hide from all their contacts.
Blue Tick Feature
WhatsApp introduced a feature that allows users to know when their messages have been sent, delivered and read.
One tick for sent, two for delivered and the ticks turn blue when the message has been read.
WhatsApp also gave room to hide the blue ticks so people on the user’s contact list cannot know when a message is read, meaning you can send a message but no one knows if it has been read.
The GB version goes further to let users hide second ticks also, which means the sender will think that the message did not deliver when in actuality, it did.
More pictures
With the original version of WhatsApp, users can only attach 10 images at a time, whereas with GB WhatsApp, users can attach up to 90 images at a time.
Schedule Messages
With the original WhatsApp, users have to wait up to wish someone a happy birthday at 12 midnight or send someone a reminder at a certain time.
With GB WhatsApp, users can schedule messages to go out at a time and date of their choice.
