It was all the way back in 2017 when WhatsApp changed the way its status feature changed. With that change, it went from a text-based description of yourself, to a daily update you can share to your contacts, sort of like an Instagram Story. The new Status updates have gradually improved over the years, and a new one may be upon us. This time, it’s to do with where it is placed, and the Meta subsidiary is testing a new placement for it.
A rep from the messaging app tells us that the company is testing putting the Status updates at the very top of the chats tab. This is, per the rep, in response to feedback that people miss statuses from their contacts. With that in mind, the new placement is to see if making it more visible helps people catch updates before they go away in the default 24 hour window.
WhatsApp says that this only shows organic Status from your contacts. The entirety of the Status tray can also be minimised by swiping down, and users can choose to hide individual contacts’ updates at any time. The rep also tells us that this test involves “a number of people in Malaysia because of the strong WhatsApp community here and the quality of feedback we expect to receive from our users”. No word yet on if it will be made accessible to more people down the line.
Those with contacts who constantly put up new status updates, you’re probably wondering, in what way is this different from the current implementation? The answer is simply, rather than getting the full carousel tray to begin with, you see them initially condensed. Pull it down, and it enlarges to show the separate status bubbles. WhatsApp notes that “nothing changes about the privacy of personal messages, Status and calls”.
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