WhatsApp is one of the worlds largest online texting applications which is used almost in every country. It is a light and easy to use texting application which also offers a lot of other important utilities other than texting. These include video calling, group video calling, digital payments, document and media sharing and location sharing. What began as a simple texting application is now an indispensable part of our lives because WhatsApp has made information flow faster and safer. WhatsApp web kept scaling new heights time and again and this was possible only because of the constant innovation by the developer team.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced entire countries to go into lockdown and shut down businesses, WhatsApp is doing its part to help people during these times by rolling out some nifty and important features.
Group video call limit increased
WhatsApp had the facility for group video calls which could only accommodate 4 people in a single call. However, with a new update WhatsApp increased the limit of group video calls to 8 users. The update is not just limited to increase in participants but also to the audio and video quality. There has been a noticeable increase in the quality of the video and audio in group video calls.
‘Together At Home’ sticker pack
WhatsApp has launched a new sticker pack called ‘Together at Home’ in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO.) The sticker pack aims to help people stay connected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restrictions on frequently forwarded messages
This is probably one of the most important features to be released during the COVID-19 lockdown. In a country like India, a lot of misinformation is shared on a daily basis on WhatsApp messages and most of these messages are forwards. The amount of misinformation on WhatsApp is so high that WhatsApp is often referred to as ‘Whatsapp University.’ During the coronavirus pandemic, WhatsApp restricted ‘frequently forwarded messages’ to be sent to not more than one chat at a time.
How WhatsApp new Disappearing Features works:
As mentioned, once Disappearing Messages feature is enabled, new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days.
-The most recent selection controls all messages in the chat. "This setting won’t affect messages you previously sent or received in the chat," WhatsApp said in its support page.
-Disappearing messages will also wipe out photos and videos after seven days, and while messages will disappear for both parties it’s still possible to take screenshots or just simply copy messages before they are automatically deleted. Or, you can also save the photos or other content with auto-download on. You can turn auto-download off in WhatsApp Settings > Data and Storage Usage.
If a user doesn’t open WhatsApp in the seven day period, the message will disappear. However, the preview of the message might still be displayed in notifications until WhatsApp is opened.
-When you reply to a message, the initial message is quoted. If you reply to a disappearing message, the quoted text might remain in the chat after seven days.
-If a disappearing message is forwarded to a chat with disappearing messages off, the message won’t disappear in the forwarded chat.
-If a user creates a backup before a message disappears, the disappearing message will be included in the backup. Disappearing messages will be deleted when a user restores from a backup.
How to enable or disable WhatsApp Disappearing messages feature:
How to switch on Disappearing Messages feature:
Open the WhatsApp chat.
Tap the contact’s name.
Tap Disappearing messages.
If prompted, tap CONTINUE.
Select On.
How to switch off Disappearing Messages feature:
Once disabled, messages sent in the chat will no longer disappear.
Open the WhatsApp chat.
Tap the contact’s name.
Tap Disappearing messages.
If prompted, tap CONTINUE.
Select Off.
An important thing to note here is that once Disappearing Messages feature is on, there, however, is no option of customizing the time frame after which the messages will be deleted.
In an important development on Wednesday night, WhatsApp got a green signal from India start its payment service in the world’s biggest open technology market.
WhatsApp Pay can go live using the homegrown, multibank Unified Payments Interface, the National Payments Corporation of India said in a statement Thursday. The Facebook-owned firm can gradually expand its UPI base starting with as many as 20 million users. Facebook has been testing WhatsApp payments in India for years, but regulatory hurdles have kept the app’s pilot project to a very small number of users
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