WhatsApp gets update that can show user status in images

WhatsApp is going to release WhatsApp Status, an update that allows users to display their status in the messaging app through photos and videos that automatically disappear after 24 hours. These status updates also use end-to-end encryption.

The update of the status function is already being released and will be available to everyone no later than Friday, WhatsApp has announced. Users can display their status through photos and videos, including for example smileys, texts, drawings and animated gifs. This makes WhatsApp Status in a sense a clone of Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories. The new WhatsApp Status will be available in the menu bar and not in the Contacts tab.

In November last year, the new status function of WhatsApp was already tested. In June there was already a rumor that WhatsApp would probably get support for animated gifs. In a changelog of a test version for iOS there were already several references for the new function.

WhatsApp will be eight years old on Friday. Gradually, the messaging app has become more extensive with new features, such as video calling, which was introduced last year. End-to-end encryption was introduced in 2014.