Category: WhatsApp

Facebook Planning To Integrate Whatsapp, Messenger And Instagram

As per a news report which surfaced on The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer has Ideas to unify its messaging services. That’s right, Whatsapp, Instagram and Messenger will have a common tech infrastructure very soon. And as this news arrives at a time when Facebook is under investigation, this clearly looks like a huge step to make things work by the Billionaire CEO.

Cross Platform Messaging

The total number of users across these 3 apps exceed 2.6 billion. If the integration happens, the users may be able to send messages across these platforms, which will be quite convenient, without doubt. An important thing to note here is that the apps will not combine. They’ll keep functioning as standalone apps. The only thing that’ll change is the ability of a user to send messages from Whatsapp to say, Instagram.

Also Read : Facebook Developing Cryptocurrency To be Used In WhatsApp

End-to-End Encryption

As far as encryption goes, Whatsapp introduced end-to-end encryption in April 2016, which set it to default on all future conversations. Even Facebook messenger has an option which allows you to opt into end-to-end encryption for all your chats. It’ll be really interesting to see how Facebook manages the same form of encryption across all three apps.

Possible Issues With Integration

A lot of discussion is pending as many underlying problems come to light. For instance, what will be the signing up process if the Unification occurs? How will data be shared between the users? Will Facebook require your mobile number as an identification? It’s clear that Zuckerberg wishes to keep users highly involved inside the already existing ecosystem. But will the transition be as easy as it sounds? It’s too early to say that. We’ll see how things work out.

Read More : Facebook Messenger To Soon Introduce ‘Unsend’ Message Feature

January 26, 2019
WhatsApp Adds New Feature To Control Spam Messages

WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware, cross-platform messaging application that was started in the year 2009. In comparison to its initial release, the company has added several features and functionalities to the application. Except for text messaging it also provides services like Voice over IP (VoIP), media sharing and video calling. Due to its free price and ease of usage, it has become a huge hit amongst consumers across the globe.

One issue that the company has tried to tackle for a long period of time is the propagation of fake news via the platform. In the month of July, last year WhatsApp launched a test to limit the forwarding of messages worldwide. The company specifically mentioned that its Indian users forward more messages and photos than users from any other country. The company tested a lower limit that restricts users to send messages to only five contacts at once. Also, it removed the quick forward button next to media messages. According to the company, this step was taken to further improve the safety and privacy of its users. One example that helped to curb fake new is as follows:

Labelling Forwarded Messages

The new update of WhatsApp adds a crucial feature to restrain the diffusion of sham messages via the messaging application. After the update, WhatsApp will show which messages a user receives have been forwarded to them. Such a message will carry a small arrow along with the forwarded tag. This will allow the receiver to know whether that particular message was actually written by the sender or it was forwarded information.

How Will It Stop False News?

Also Read: Redmi To Soon Launch The Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7 Pro & Redmi Go In India

This fresh feature of WhatsApp will allow the receiver to ascertain if a specific message was forwarded or purposely written. The receiver can then determine whether they should trust the claims of that message or not.

January 22, 2019
WhatsApp To Limit Message Forwarding After Violence In India

India has been subject to a lot of violence because of fake news spreading across social media platforms. Because of fake WhatsApp news going viral in the district of Tiruvannamalai, a family of five lost their lives. Facebook currently owns the messaging platform and is now planning to bring major changes in the way WhatsApp works. In their latest announcement, Facebook said that they will limit the number of messages users can forward.

Also Read: New Twitter Update Will Reduce Follower Count As Locked Accounts Are Removed

The limit currently in India for forwarding a message is 250. The new WhatsApp update will bring this down to just 5 in India and globally the limit will be 20. The latest case of violence happened in Tamil Nadu. 65-year-old Rukmani and other four family members were travelling to a temple in Tiruvannamalai. They stopped at a village close to the temple to ask for direction when a woman wrongly suspected the family as child lifters. The rumour spread across the village via WhatsApp. The woman called her son who was ready with a mob. To avoid them, the family decided to turn back but found themselves surrounded by another mob in the neighbouring village. Again, because the news spread via WhatsApp. The family was then murdered.

The above mentioned is just one of the many cases where the victims were subject to brutality because of fake news. This led to a dire need for some serious changes in the way the social media platforms work. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India raised its concerns about fake news to WhatsApp. Which is one of the reasons why the update is now the messaging platform’s top priority.

WhatsApp

Social media platforms are a space where people can share their opinions. However, people take this freedom of speech for granted. Regulations and protocols for people on social media is still a grey area. It is reassuring to see platforms like WhatsApp taking steps to manage and hopefully control the spreading of such fake information.

Have something to add? Leave a Comment Below!

July 20, 2018
WhatsApp Beta Update To Enable WhatsApp Stickers

Facebook, the social network which bought the messaging service, WhatsApp back in February 2014, has been updating the platform. The new beta update for the app brings stickers to its users. Though the WhatsApp beta version has been around for a while, Facebook has never tested this feature for the app before. There are many other messaging platforms which have already embraced this concept. It will be the first time that WhatsApp will introduce stickers to its users.

The new WhatsApp beta update will bring a lot of interesting sticker packs. A Twitter post shows two sticker packs, Unchi & Rollie and Bibimbap Friends.

WhatsApp beta for Android 2.18.218:
1) Sticker preview!
2) When the WhatsApp Sticker Store has a new updated sticker pack, there will be a green dot on the “+” button.
3) Added the update button.

[STICKERS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN FUTURE – NO RELEASE DATE AVAILABLE!!!] pic.twitter.com/m86vLp28zB

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) July 16, 2018

Must Read: OnePlus 3 Gets Beta Android Oreo Update

Previously, WhatsApp gave its users the option to send GIFs and emojis. The addition of stickers will probably help the app gain more traction. There are several other rumours which claim that the beta update will also provide a sticker store. Whether the store will have region-specific stickers like those found on Hike messenger is unclear.

The WhatsApp beta update was announced at the F8 conference in May 2018. The beta version with the sticker will be available in the version 2.18.218. The current beta update provides group voice chat and video call features.

Stickers will have separate categories depending on the type of emotion they depict. Some of the categories are Lol, Wow, Love, and Sad. The developers haven’t confirmed the official release date for this update yet. We are certain, however, that the WhatsApp Beta Stickers update is just around the corner. So if you haven’t already, now will a good time to signup for the Beta release of the app.

WhatsApp is one of the most downloaded messenger apps of all time. It is natural for Facebook to keep the users engaged with new features.

July 17, 2018
WhatsApp Group Voice And Video Calling Feature Rolling Out: Here’s How To Get It

At Facebook’s F8 Conference, the company focussed a lot on data privacy and essentially showing how much it cares for every user’s data. While all of these features are essential for a safer space on the internet, the company also unveiled a few interesting features for Instagram and WhatsApp. One of those features was group voice and video calling. Now, the new feature is rolling out to WhatsApp Beta users.

First and foremost, only users who have signed up for WhatsApp Beta will be able to use this feature for now. It is worth noting that the WhatsApp Beta program on Play Store is already full. This means that WhatsApp is not signing up any new Beta testers. While the group voice and video calling feature rolled out to a few testers last month, the new beta version is now available to all WhatsApp Beta users.

Must Read: Apple’s Memoji Feature Will Let Users Create Personalised Animojis

In order to initiate a group voice call, a WhatsApp Beta user must first call a contact. Then, hit the ‘add new members’ button at the top right corner to add more contacts into the conversation. The same process works for group video calling as well. It is worth noting that for now, maximum of four people can participate in a group call. FaceTime will soon get a feature wherein users will be able to add up to 32 members to a single call.

Also, users can only add one contact at a time. This means that the process has to be repeated everytime you need to add a new member to the conversation. Users on a stable build of WhatsApp can participate in group voice and video calls. However, they cannot add or remove members from the call.

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app and this feature will only make it better. Skype, one of the mainstays of video calling platforms has its work cut out.

June 20, 2018
Apple iPhone Users Can Watch Facebook And Instagram Videos On WhatsApp

A few days ago, Mark Zuckerberg took to stage and announced all the new features coming to Facebook and its properties. WhatsApp, bought by Facebook in 2016 for US$ 19 billion has been receiving a few interesting features over the past few months. WhatsApp on iPhones will now allow users to embed and play Instagram and Facebook video directly within WhatsApp with PIP.

PiP is picture-in-picture wherein users can essentially watch a video without leaving the current app and simultaneously do other tasks. With the new feature rolling out to WhatsApp for iPhones, users will be able to watch Instagram and Facebook videos within the app, without leaving WhatsApp. This feature is already available for YouTube videos.

Earlier, if users clicked on a link to an Instagram or Facebook video, it would open in their respective apps installed on smartphones. Users can move the video bubble around the screen. The video bubble comes with play/pause, close, and fullscreen buttons, like YouTube’s PiP video bubble.

Must Read: Twitter Warns 330 Million Users Of A Password Vulnerability

Along with the new feature, WhatsApp will soon also receive group video calling feature. Facebook users can already make a group video call and at the conference, Facebook announced that the feature will finally trickle down to WhatsApp and Instagram users as well. On Instagram, users will be able to minimize the video and continue video chatting while using Instagram simultaneously. Facebook is also cracking down on bullying on Instagram. The photo-sharing service getting a new filter to protect users from bullying comments.

In-app payment method has become an important feature for Facebook-owned properties. WhatsApp recently introduced the feature and is currently in testing phase. WhatsApp even introduced verified accounts for businesses in order to gain traction from owners and customers of small to mid-level businesses.

Must Read: Gboard Lets Users Make Their Own GIFs

Currently, users are able to book appointments at restaurants, spas through a Resy, a third-party dinner reservation app. With the new feature, users will be able to book services from a limited number of businesses on the platform. In March 2017, the company announced its plans to give business profiles the option to let users book their services. At the time, the company said it that it would roll out the feature in late-2017, however, that didn’t happen.

The new feature has started rolling out to iPhones but, there is no timeline for this feature to reach Android devices.

May 7, 2018
WhatsApp Co-Founder Jan Koum Leaves Facebook Amid Data Privacy Concerns

Facebook has been embroiled in a huge debate about the internet as a whole. As social media has grown to become such an integral part of our lives, it is no secret that users have given more personal information than needed to various social media platforms over the years. Facebook has been under the cosh for allegedly, not using that information in an ethical manner. Now, it appears that the conversation of privacy has trickled down to Facebook-owned properties, mainly WhatsApp. Co-founder and CEO of WhatsApp, Jan Koum has announced that he will be leaving WhatsApp soon.

https://www.facebook.com/jan.koum/posts/10156227307390011

Jan took to his Facebook page to announce his departure, making sure he doesn’t give away any reasons that made him quit the company he started. A report by Washington Post claimed that he had a clash with Facebook and the company’s plans of using users’ private data. It also claimed that Jan plans to step down from Facebook’s board of directors.

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp from Jan for a reported US$ 19 billion. The app has since become the most famous instant messaging service. In July 2017, the company announced that it had reached 1 billion active daily users who were sending 55 billion messages per day, 4.5 billion photos and 1 billion videos.

Jan Koum

WhatsApp has always pledged to protect user data and promised to protect that when Facebook bought the messaging service. In 2016, it further solidified its stance by introducing end-to-end encryption. However, Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company has been accused of letting third parties use sensitive user data to their advantage. His departure will certainly be a blow for Facebook, especially after Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp quit the company in November. Brian Acton, for that matter, has joined the rising voices of people concerned about data protection. The social media campaign, #DeleteFacebook has also gained impetus in the last few months.

Facebook is yet to respond to reports of Jan quitting due to differences with Facebook about handling user data. However, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook did reply to Jan’s post, saying:

I will miss working so closely with you. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to help connect the world, and for everything you’ve taught me, including about encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people’s hands.

It’ll be interesting to see the repercussions now since both the founders have quit the company. Facebook will be eager to continue building the legacy of its largest-ever acquisition in the wake of questionable times for the parent company.

May 1, 2018
Top Instant Messaging Apps For Android
Not a long time ago, we used to send wishes through postcards, which was later replaced by SMS. However, the rise of the internet has made SMS services redundant. Instant messengers have evolved into more than just text messaging mediums. Users can do things like international video calling to sending money, all in one single app. While these apps are free to use, the internet is the only prerequisite.

The instant messengers help for all kind of stuff. From making an international video call to sharing a presentation. However, usually, the only requirement of these apps is the internet. Almost all the instant messengers work fine in either cellular data or a Wi-Fi network. So, here are the top three instant messengers available for Android. However, these three apps are universally compatible, which means they work fine on iOS as well.

WhatsApp

Without a doubt, WhatsApp has become the most famous instant messaging apps in the world. While there are a few anomalies here and there, almost everyone with a smartphone has WhatsApp nowadays. The free to use business model with no in-app ads make this one of the best messengers in the business. One can create groups and add up to 256 members.

Pros:
- Free to use
- Ad-free user experience
- Free voice and video calls
- Simple UI
- WhatsApp Pay
Cons:
- Requires an active SIM card for activation
Facebook Messenger

The Facebook Messenger was something that was forced on to us. Facebook made the Messenger a standalone app and removed the option of chat from its main app. Hence, anyone with a Facebook app, had to move on to the Facebook Messenger as well. But, it has turned out to be a great messaging app, especially for people extremely active on Facebook. However, it has the option of replacing the standard SMS app as well.

The messenger has two sections, where it differentiates the messages and the active users. The active users are highlighted using a green dot. One can also initiate voice and video calls with a single touch of a button.

Pros:
- Free to use
- Material UI
- Free voice and video calls
Cons:
- In-app ads
- App consumes a lot of space
- Complex user experience
Hike

This is also an interesting instant messenger. Though it resembles WhatsApp, it has its own added advantage. The app comes with a hidden mode, where users can hide their secrete chats. This app also offers free stickers, which can be used instead of words to express a certain feeling. In fact, the app has stickers based on Indian celebrities and their famous dialogues as well.

Pros:
- Groups chat with up to 1000 members
- UPI based Hike wallet
- Gift packs
Cons:
- Small user base
- In-app ads
[poll id=”60″]
March 8, 2018
WhatsApp Group Chats Can Easily Be Infiltrated

Back in early 2016, WhatsApp introduced end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp chats. However, a new report claims that the group chats in WhatsApp can be easily infiltrated. A group of German cryptographers have discovered flaws in WhatsApp’s encryption that makes this possible.

The cryptographers from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany announced this at the “Real World Crypto Security Conference in Zurich, Switzerland on the 10th of January. The report from Wired says:

Anyone who controls the app’s servers could insert new people into private group chats without needing admin permission. The confidentiality of the group is compromised as soon as the uninvited member can obtain all the new messages and read them.

End-to-end encryption is a secure method of communication where only the people communicating can access messages sent. Cyber-criminals and hackers, telecoms and Internet providers or governments cannot read these communications. Even the company that built and runs the service cannot access messages, and hence cannot easily cooperate with authorities who request these exchanges.

According to the researchers, only an administrator of a WhatsApp group can invite new members, but WhatsApp doesn’t use any authentication mechanism for that invitation that its own servers can’t spoof. This basically means that a server can add any new member to the group without any interaction with the administrator.

Once this happens, the phone of every participant in the group then automatically shares secret keys with that new member, giving him or her full access to any future messages.

A WhatsApp spokesperson confirmed the findings, however, added that “no one can secretly add a new member to a group and a notification does go through that a new, unknown member has joined the group.”

WhatsApp is now expected to give more power to group administrators in the aftermath of these findings. In the coming days, administrators will be able to block any or all group members from sending any kind of text message, voice message or media files.

January 11, 2018
75 Billion WhatsApp Messages Were Sent On New Year’s Eve

Up until a few years ago, SMS packs were a big selling point for holidays and major festivals. However, with the internet becoming more affordable and accessible, users have resorted to instant messaging apps like WhatsApp to communicate on a daily basis. A report claims that on the 31st of December 2017, over 75 billion messages were sent on WhatsApp worldwide. For context, Earth’s population is 7.6 billion.

In India alone, WhatsApp has over 200 million monthly active users who sent over 20 billion messages on New Year’s Eve. That is a staggering figure for one country which constitutes more than 1/4th of the total messages sent across the world. Incidentally, the last day of the year also turned out to be WhatsApp’s biggest messaging day ever.

Ever since the internet became cheaper and smartphones became affordable, SMS services have seen a severe decline and active usage. Moreover, instant messaging apps let users send more than just text messages to each other. It allows users to express in a more expansive way through GIFs, videos or emoticons.

Over the course of 2017, WhatsApp released a few new features which a lot of users had asked for including ‘Delete For All’. Ever since Facebook took over WhatsApp, there have been instances where Facebook features were trickled down to WhatsApp as well. One such feature was ‘Status’. In less than a year, WhatsApp Status feature has garnered over 300 million monthly active users across the globe. To put this statistic into context, Snapchat as whole experiences about 166 million daily active users. And WhatsApp status feature was set out to be a ‘Snapchat Stories’ clone. Instagram stories, another Snapchat clone hit the 250 million daily active users as well.

In 2017, WhatsApp also hit 1 billion monthly active users. India is WhatsApp’s largest market with 200 million active users. In fact, back in February WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton visited India in order to gather insights from people on how WhatsApp can contribute to the country in a more prominent way.

January 4, 2018
WhatsApp Ordered To Stop Sharing User Data With Facebook

Back in 2014, Facebook bought one of the most famous instant messaging apps in the world, WhatsApp. Over the course of three years, there have been many Facebook features which have trickled down to WhatsApp as well, WhatsApp Status being one of them. Being the parent company, Facebook started using the user data from WhatsApp to develop targeted advertising, security measures, and to gather business intelligence.

To tackle the free-sharing of personal user data among the two firms, France’s ultra-strict privacy watchdog CNIL has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with parent company Facebook. WhatsApp has a month to comply with the order, according to a public notice posted to the French website. CNIL ruled that while WhatsApp’s intention of improving security measures was valid, the sharing of data for business intelligence purpose was not acceptable.

CNIL believes that since WhatsApp never told its users that it was collecting data for business intelligence and there’s no way to opt out without uninstalling the app, it violates the fundamental freedom of users.

This is a yet another step from European regulators to crack down on the freewheeling data sharing between the two social networking entities. Germany ordered Facebook to stop collecting data from WhatsApp users in September 2016, and in the UK, Facebook agreed to stop collecting WhatsApp user data in November 2016.

Do you find it uncomfortable that Facebook can use your data to create specific advertisements for you while it claims that the data-sharing is for security purposes only? Let us know in the comments below!

December 19, 2017
WhatsApp Will Soon Play YouTube Videos Within The App

WhatsApp has been the most successful instant messaging app and right now, it barely has any competition. But, an app needs to keep on evolving and adding new features incentivises users to come back to your app rather than switching to some other new one.

Keeping that in mind, WhatsApp has recently updated its iOS app to add a new functionality which will enable WhatsApp to play YouTube videos within the app.

The new update comes with WhatsApp version 2.17.81, which is currently available to download via the App Store. However, the PiP mode is currently not working and the YouTube link in the conversations still takes you to the YouTube app.

Note that the YouTube feature in WhatsApp is currently disabled, also if the changelog reports it. Probably they missed to enable it.
I will inform you when WhatsApp will enable it from the server, probably tonight.

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) November 28, 2017

According to WABetaInfo, the YouTube playback feature is not yet enabled from a server side switch, the WhatsApp server. After the update, the app is capable of running PiP mode and it will be functional as soon as WhatsApp enables the switch from its server end.

For Android users, there is no word on this update yet but, the next app update should bring this feature to Android devices as well.

November 29, 2017
WhatsApp Is Rolling Out The Delete For Everyone (Recall) Feature For All Users

After months of being in beta testing, it appears that WhatsApp is finally happy with its recall feature. WABetainfo now reports that the new feature called ‘Delete for Everyone’, has started rolling out to some Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone users. It only works if both the recipient and sender have the latest version of WhatsApp installed and it also works on WhatsApp Web version.

The website notes that the rollout is slow and may take some time to reach out to all the users. The feature is said to work for all kinds of message like texts, images, videos, GIFs, voice messages, contact, files, location, quoted message, and status replies on WhatsApp.

It is worth noting that the feature works only within 7 minutes of sending the message, after that, the message can’t be recalled. Deleted messages will be replaced by “This message was deleted for everyone.” Once the sent message is deleted by the sender, WhatsApp will remove the message from the chat page as well as from the notifications window.

One of the most widely requested feature on the most successful instant messaging apps is finally rolling out to all the users. Because the roll out will happen in phases, don’t get anxious if you haven’t received the update yet.

October 27, 2017
WhatsApp Will Now Allow You to Share Your Location Live
What many will take as a safety solution, a location sharing feature that will share your location live with anyone you enable this feature with, hits the worlds most popular messaging application, WhatApp. With this new capability users can share their live location via a message help their friends/loved ones track them live.

Since all communicating between two parties is encrypted, WhatsApp claims this private location sharing will remain secure and encrypted for the privacy protection of the users.

The feature will go live across platforms whether iOS or Android and users will be able to initiate it though the location shirring menu in their apps. Whats even more interesting is that, if in a group chat, several members share their location, it will be seen in a common map.

How to Activate Live Location:

As an incremental update the feature will automatically show up within your app if your hardware ( smartphone) supports this feature.

How to Share Live Location:
- Open a chat with the person or group you want to share with.
- Under “Location” in the attach button, there’s a new option to “Share Live Location.”
- Choose for how long you want to share and tap send
- Each person in the chat will be able to see your real-time location on a map
- And if more than one person shares their Live Location in the group, all locations will be visible on the same map.
- Once done you can stop sharing the location by tapping the “Stop Sharing” button
Live Location is available on both Android and iPhone and will be rolling out in the app in the coming weeks.
October 18, 2017
You Will Soon Be Able To Recall Sent Messages On WhatsApp

The instant messaging app WhatsApp has long been a fan favourite and the most successful IM app in the world right now. WhatsApp has added a lot of new features in 2017 to keep the consumers interested and the latest feature spotted might be the most important of them all. WhatsApp will finally add an ‘Unsend’ feature to recall sent messages. A WhatsApp fan site that tests new features of the app tweeted that the Facebook-owned company is testing this feature and will enable the feature worldwide in the coming months.

A report about the same feature reveals that users will be able to ‘unsend’ the message within 5 minutes of sending it. The feature will be applicable for images, videos and GIFs as well. However, it is worth noting that the feature will only work if the message is not read by the recipient in that time frame of 5 minutes.

DELETE FOR EVERYONE NEWS!
[AVAILABLE SOON!] pic.twitter.com/GQ6eqbNvSn

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) September 12, 2017

The news of WhatsApp testing this long awaited feature is not new. WABetaInfo had said that the feature will roll out in WhatsApp version 2.17.30 onwards. Even though this version is already available on App Store, the recall feature is nowhere to be seen. Let’s hope the Beta testing is a success and this new feature makes its way to our smartphones soon. We could all make full use of this feature!

September 14, 2017