The popular messenger service WhatsApp is to get new features. WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart and Mark Zuckerberg revealed this to the blog “WABetaInfo”.
Munich – WhatsApp* is one of the most popular messenger services in the world. It is therefore hardly surprising that reports about new functions make high waves. This time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart announce the updates in an exchange with the blog WABetaInfo. Zuckerberg gives hope for three innovations that will probably be implemented “soon”.
WhatsApp: Three functions are to be newly introduced – including probably “View-Once” innovation
As Mark Zuckerberg lets slip in the WhatsApp chat interview with WABetaInfo on June 3, three updates are to come for the Messenger service. First, WhatsApp users will be able to send messages that are automatically deleted after a short time. This innovation is reminiscent of the Snapchat service, which has offered this function for quite some time. Thus, photos and messages can be seen only once after opening.
The “View-Once” innovation is supposed to ensure that private content disappears faster. Screenshots of the content should still remain possible. Control over self-deleting messages is also to be optimized: While messages have to be selected individually in the current version, deletion will soon be a standard option for all messages.
WhatsApp: Messenger service probably soon usable on multiple devices simultaneously
For another innovation, Whatsapp had to master a “major technical difficulty,” as Zuckerberg admits in an interview with WABetaInfo. For example, it will soon be possible to use the Messenger service on multiple devices at the same time. A similar function is already possible today with WhatsApp Web, but the update goes beyond that. In the future, it will be possible to use a WhatsApp account on more than one cell phone. Even without a SIM card and smartphone connection, it will be possible to use the messenger service. As WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart revealed in conversation, the “multi-device” innovation should be usable for users in the beta version within the next two months.
WhatsApp recently under criticism for new privacy policy
In January, WhatsApp published its new privacy policy – and earned massive criticism for it. The company announced that it would share WhatsApp users’ data with Facebook* and other subsidiaries. Users in the EU are not affected – the European Data Protection Regulation prohibits this procedure. Nevertheless, the popularity of WhatsApp competitors such as Threema or Signal increased. “We can hardly keep up with the requests,” co-founder and Threema CEO Martin Blatter told Handelsblatt on February 1, 2021. With the new features, WhatsApp will also try to win back users who have migrated.
