WhatsApp celebrates its eighth anniversary with a new feature

WhatsApp celebrates its eighth anniversary. Eight years of more or less free messaging and with more than one privacy problem. But the news is not that this revolutionary tool emerged on February 24, 2009, but rather that, eight years later, it is ready to carry out a new revolution. Or at least, to change things in terms of the way of communicating in chats and conversations. The long-awaited function of the States arrives, although without any innovation after what Instagram and Facebook have done.The function has already been launched, but WhatsApp urges us to wait until February 24 to receive it.

WhatsApp States have been in the making for several months, and it seems like a thoughtful strategy to finish taking value away from Snapchat. And it is that these statuses are nothing more than photographs and videos that disappear 24 hours after being published Exactly what Instagram has been doing for some time and how well It has seated its audience, which is better every day. And the same with Facebook, which is still rolling out this feature to its mobile users.

Ephemeral messages arrive

Until now, everything that was written on WhatsApp was recorded in the chats Or in the backup copies, in case of deleting the message manually. While the function to revoke messages arrives (it won't take long), Snapchat was the only one that allowed you to delete all traces of what was written and sent.Something that conquered the younger public, and that made Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, take action on the matter. Now they have found a formula that has triumphed on Instagram, and that they have shamelessly copied on Snapchat. The key is whether WhatsApp users, accustomed to maintaining their chats, will use it.

As we say, it is ephemeral content. They are photographs and videos that each WhatsApp user can freely publish in a kind of profile This new profile integrated into WhatsApp is now called Status. And no, it has nothing to do with the profile status phrase that each user can define to their liking, at least conceptually. In this way, WhatsApp contacts can go through this wall and see, as many times as they want, all these shared moments or states. Now, they disappear forever once 24 hours have passed. Seen and unseen.

To do this, WhatsApp makes the Contacts tab disappear and integrates the States tab. Here are collected all those moments shared by the contacts of this application. If you want to create new states, the user just has to click on the green button with a +

What's up with the privacy?

In WhatsApp you always have to ask yourself this question. Even more so when, in many cases, conversations from personal and professional environments are crossed in the same account. Well then, the WhatsApp States have the option of choosing which contacts can see them and which ones can't Of course, they are active and public from the outset. In addition, you have to know that the visits to the states of a contact are reflected. As in Instagram, it is possible to see a list of users who have kept an eye on these moments.Of course, if the acknowledgment or the famous blue double check is deactivated, things go into incognito mode to gossip. In return, you will not be able to see the visits of other contacts to our own States.

Regarding security, it has been known for weeks that all this content is protected by the same encryption or protection as standard messagesFrom user to user. In this way, WhatsApp ensures that there are no leaks, nor that hackers can intercept and decode this information. A real plus point for users.

How to activate WhatsApp States

WhatsApp, in a statement through its website, urges users to wait until February 24 to start using this functionWhatsApp States will arrive automatically, since the code is present in the latest versions of the application.It is enough for WhatsApp to activate it from its servers. Of course, you have to make sure you have the latest update installed on your mobile. A quick visit to the Google Play Store, App Store or the Windows Store allows you to make sure of this step. And all that remains is to arm yourself with patience.

Another option to try to force activation is to clear the application data Android users can do this from the Settings menu of your terminal. Inside they should look for the Applications section and find WhatsApp. Among the memory options is the ability to clear your data and cache. This could make you lose the last received messages. When starting WhatsApp again, the user will have to carry out the profile entry process. Hopefully, when everything is ready, the States will be available. However, it is not a definitive method.

WhatsApp returns to its origin

Maybe not many users know it, but WhatsApp did not emerge as a messaging application. Originally it was a simple addition to the contact list of the first smartphones. In this addition you could write a status phrase to indicate whether or not you were available for a call. Gradually users used this feature to communicate, and Brian Acton and Jon Koum revamped the tool to welcome messages. Eight years later, the star theme is again the states. This time updated to fashion. We must not lose sight of the fact that Snapchat launches its public offering on the stock market next week. Therefore, this same date is most convenient for the interests of WhatsApp.