GoKawiilThe latest WhatsApp beta for iPhone includes references to a new contacts hub that will make it easier to see who is online and who was active recently. Here are the details.
WhatsApp is making online status easier to check
As spotted by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is working on a new contacts hub that will display who is, or recently was, online.
On WhatsApp, users can choose whether other contacts can see their online activity. Accordingly, WhatsApp only lets users see someone else’s online status if they also make their own online status visible.
Yet, for users who do keep online status enabled, checking whether one or more contacts are online still requires opening each conversation individually and looking at the top of the chat, where WhatsApp shows whether that contact is online or when they were last active.
However, according to WABetaInfo, “WhatsApp is working on a feature that lets users see which of their contacts are currently online.”
The feature is a new contacts hub that will show users’ favorite contacts at the top, followed by contacts who are currently online, and then contacts who were recently active.
The site notes that while the feature isn’t currently available even to beta testers, they were able to activate it, as seen below:
WABetaInfo says that the new Contacts section will be accessed from the Settings screen, and will follow the same privacy rules as the current online status indicator: users will only see other people’s online activity if they also allow their own online status to be visible.
As is the case with features under development, and particularly considering WhatsApp’s famously slow rollout schedule, there is no clear timeline as to when it will be officially released.
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