WhatsApp Celebrates Its 8th Birthday With New Status Feature

At the end of February, WhatsApp celebrated its 8th birthday by issuing a new update to their popular messaging app. This update adds a new status feature that allows you to add videos to your status. It is similar to Snapchat and Instagram’s story features, where you can share clips or video or photos with your friends. The new update to WhatsApp is just over 30MB — a decent-sized update for the new feature.

Before you update the app, make sure that you have enough space on your device for app and software updates, in addition to new apps, files, and photos. Many social networking apps, and messaging apps like WhatsApp, bloat in size over time because of all of the data they collect and store. To prepare for the update, clean out your WhatsApp app with dfndr security’s WhatsApp Cleaner. Doing so will remove old, unwanted files so that you have more space on your device. If you want to keep any old files, though, you can still do so — you can specifically select which files you want to remove from your phone. Click here to remove old, unwanted files from WhatsApp:

Another Way to Keep in Touch With Friends and Family
Unlike Snapchat and Instagram, the feature is only available to your WhatsApp contacts — other WhatsApp users that you don’t know can’t see your status updates. You can share your status updates with select individuals or all of your contacts. Since WhatsApp originally started as a way for you to keep in touch with friends and family — especially if they’re spread out over many countries — this new status feature is a great way to celebrate their birthday. It gives you a more personal way to stay in touch with others.

What Does the Status Update Offer?
Previously, you were only able to add text to your WhatsApp status update. Now, you can add photos, videos, and GIFs to better express yourself. You can share videos up to 45 seconds long — a serious improvement from other video-sharing apps. Similar to Snapchat and Instagram, your status updates only last a certain amount of time. After 24 hours, your WhatsApp status will disappear. This is meant to encourage you to constantly update your status. If anyone responds to your status update, you’ll see it in a private message, not a public comment chain. Further, like the rest of WhatsApp’s offerings, all of your status updates will feature end-to-end encryption.