Heena Sharma Blog

  After the seven-day limit, WhatsApp is now testing and developing a Disappearing Message feature with the 24-hour option for personal and group chats. According to WABetaInfo, a website that tracks WhatsApp in Beta, revealed that the disappearing message feature will be available in a future update. "WhatsApp won't replace the 7 days’ option, but 24 hours will be an addition," the report said on Sunday. WhatsApp will soon include the 24-hour option in the section where people are used to enable/disable disappearing messages for personal and group chats. When the user chooses "24 hours", all messages sent/received after this change expire after 24 hours, so they will disappear from the chat. "The feature is under development and it will be available in a future update for iOS, Android and Web/Desktop," the report mentioned. Read More

  Taking a cue from its rival WhatsApp , the fast-growing encrypted messaging app Signal has announced to let users send money in cryptocurrency to friends and relatives, as it tests a new peer-to-peer payments system in the beta version of its app. Called Signal Payments, the new feature that is available in the UK first will currently support a privacy-focused payments network called Mobile Coin, which has its own currency, MOB. "As always, our goal is to keep your data in your hands rather than ours; Mobile Coin’s design means Signal does not have access to your balance, full transaction history, or funds," said Jun Harada, Signal's head of growth and communication. "You can also transfer your funds at any time if you want to switch to another app or service," he said in a statement late on Tuesday. The company said it aims payments in Signal to be fast, private, and work well on mobile devices. Read More

  WhatsApp on Wednesday announced two new features to make it easier for people to know what’s available and for entrepreneurs to quickly sell their products on WhatsApp for Business . The company said that it is now providing businesses the ability to create and manage their catalog from WhatsApp web/desktop rather than just mobile phones. "Since many businesses manage their inventory from a computer, this new option will make it quick and easy to add new items or services so their customers know what's available,' WhatsApp said in a statement. This will be helpful for businesses with big inventories like a restaurant or clothing store so they can manage their catalog from a bigger screen. Currently, people can browse more than 8 million business catalogs on WhatsApp, including 1 million in India, to find something they might like to buy. Read More

  Facebook-owned WhatsApp is reportedly testing the ability to easily migrate chat history between an iPhone and an Android device. According to a 9To5Google report, this feature is part of a strategic change in the WhatsApp app. The company had been exploring the possibility of using WhatsApp on multiple devices at the same time and the ability to migrate chat history between iOS and Android is part of this effort, the report said. When the user tries to link a device having a different operative system to his WhatsApp account, it's always needed to update to the latest WhatsApp update available on the App Store or Test Flight, in order to avoid any compatibility error with the Android version, reports WABetaInfo. The ability to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices is one of the most requested features by users, as well as an iPad version of Instagram. Read More

  WhatsApp will Thursday roll out voice and video calling from the desktop, making it easier for people to take calls at their convenience. Voice and video calls on WhatsApp Web will also be end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that WhatsApp can’t hear or see them, whether you call from your phone or your computer. "We’re starting with one-to-one calls on the WhatsApp desktop app so we make sure we can give you a reliable and high-quality experience. We will be expanding this feature to include group voice and video calls in the future," the company said in a statement. The Facebook-owned messaging app had been testing this feature for very few users since late last year. In order to make a WhatsApp desktop call, you need to have a Windows 10 64-bit version 1903 and newer or macOS 10.13 and newer. One of the reasons for WhatsApp to roll out this feature is increased calling on the platform due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Read More

  India announced new rules on Thursday to regulate content on social media, making Facebook, WhatsApp and others more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. The rules -- part of an effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government to tighten the leash on Big Tech -- come after Twitter recently ignored government orders to drop content related to farmers' protests. India is the largest market by users for both Facebook and its messenger service WhatsApp. The new rules issued by the government, called the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, will be legally enforceable. They will require big social media companies to set up a grievance redressal mechanism and within three months appoint new executives to coordinate with law enforcement. Social media firms should be "more responsible and accountable," Ravi Shankar Prasad, the minister for information technolo...

  The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was treating Indian users differently from its European ones with regard to opting out of its new privacy policy, and this was a matter of concern for the government which is looking into it. The central government told the high court that it was also a matter of concern that Indian users were being "unilaterally" subjected to the change in privacy policy by social networking platform WhatsApp. The submissions were made before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma during hearing of a petition by a lawyer against the new privacypolicy of the social networking platform owned by Facebook. Duringthe hearing, Sharma told the court that by not giving Indian users the optionto opt out of sharing their data with other companies of Facebook, WhatsApp prima facie appears to be treating users with an "all or nothing approach". Read More

  Homegrown instant messaging app Hike Messenger , later known as Hike Sticker Chat, has been officially shut down. The company's chief executive officer Kavin Bharti Mittal announced the shutdown of its operations recently. "Today we are announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan'21. We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn't be here without you. All your data will be available to download in the app," Mittal tweeted. Kavin Mittal is the son of India's second largest telco Bharti Airtel's founder and chairman Sunil Mittal. The app has been removed from Playstore and Apple's App store. Users can download their data inside the application. However, the announcement does not mean an end to other apps in development by the company. Read More

  The Delhi High Court on Monday said accepting the new privacy policy of social messaging app WhatsApp was a "voluntary" thing and one can choose not to use or join that platform if one did not agree with its terms and conditions. "It is a private app. Don't join it. It is a voluntary thing, don't accept it. Use some other app," Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said to the petitioner, a lawyer, who has challenged WhatsApp's new privacy policy which was slated to come into effect in February but has been deferred till May. The court also said that if the terms and conditions of most mobile apps are read, "you would be surprised as to what all you are consenting to". "Even Google maps captures all your data and stores it," the court said. The court further said it could not understand what data would be leaked according to the petitioner and since the issue requires consideration, it will be listed on January 25 due to paucity of time...

WhatsApp on Tuesday said its latest policy update does not affect the privacy of messages as the Facebook-owned company sought to address concerns around security of user data on the platform. In a blogpost, WhatsApp emphasised that it does not share users' contact lists or data of groups with Facebook for ads purposes, and that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read messages or hear calls between users on WhatsApp. Last week, WhatsApp had informed users of an update in its Terms of Service and privacy policy regarding how it processes user data and partners with Facebook to offer integrations across the social media giant's products. It also stated that users will have to agree to the new terms and policy by February 8, 2021, in order to continue using WhatsApp's service. This kickstarted a spate of conversations and memes on the internet over WhatsApp's alleged sharing of user information with Facebook, and many users have started shifting to rival platforms like Te...

  Concerned at private group chat links being available on Google Search, WhatsApp on Monday said that they have asked Google not to index such chats and advised users not to share group chat links on publicly accessible websites. Google had indexed invite links to private WhatsApp group chats, meaning anyone can join various private chat groups with a simple search. The indexed WhatsApp group chat links have now been removed from Google. Independent cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia on Sunday shared screenshots with IANS showing indexing of WhatsApp group chat invites on Google. "Since March 2020, WhatsApp has included the "noindex" tag on all deep link pages which, according to Google, will exclude them from indexing. We have given our feedback to Google to not index these chats," a WhatsApp spokesperson told IANS. Read More

  Millions of Indian users received an in-app notification from WhatsApp as part of an upcoming global roll-out for over 2 billion users, asking them to either accept the changes in its Terms of Service and privacy policy by February 8 or their accounts will be deleted. The in-app notification did not elicit much details but clicking on the links clearly mentioned the key changes in how WhatsApp will collect and process users' information going forward, and the partnership with Facebook, its parent company, as part of a larger unification drive between the family of apps. "WhatsApp must receive or collect some information to operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services, including when you install, access, or use our Services," the updated policy read. "Businesses you interact with using our Services may provide us with information about their interactions with you. We require each of these businesses to act in accordance w...

  WhatsApp on Wednesday said it expects to facilitate the purchase of "affordable sachet-sized" health insurance through its platform by the end of the year as part of its efforts to provide users in India with greater access to financial solutions. The Facebook-owned company noted that its 'Payments' feature is now available to users across the country (currently up to 20 million users) with support from banking partners - State Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank. "WhatsApp is deeply committed to India with over 400 million active users, this is our largest market. Our primary focus will always be to provide the most simple, reliable, private and secure experience for people to connect with each other. However, in India we are also building on four other pillars," WhatsApp India Head Abhijit Bose said at the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event. Read More

  A new scam has surfaced and the target this time is the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp . Hackers are sending texts to people pretending to be a friend or relative and asking for immediate help stating some emergency. The Whatsapp OTP scam is similar to other recent scams where hackers target to gain access to one-time password (OTP). Here is how it works and why one must be careful: What is this WhatsApp OTP scam? Hackers can contact you via SMS, pretending to be your friend or relative, and will ask for an one time password (OTP) they may have sent on your number by mistake. If you share the OTP then hackers will get access to your account and all your personal messages and media. The hacker can then send messages to your friends/relatives and can also ask money from them. What to do if this happens? One should immediately reset WhatsApp and log in again. To avoid the scam, it's always advisable to not share any information without confirming if the message is...

  The government has finally allowed Facebook to start operating its WhatsApp payments service in the world's biggest open technology market, that's India.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced that no fee will be charged for sending money via WhatsApp as the company rolled out its payments services in India. In 2018, WhatsApp had started testing its UPI-based payments service in India, which allows users to utilise the messaging platform to send and receive money.The testing was limited to about a million users as it waited for regulatory approvals to come in.On Thursday, NPCI allowed WhatsApp to start its payments service in the country in a "graded" manner, starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI. Read More

  Facebook-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp on Thursday introduced ‘ Disappearing Messages ' feature, which will roll out to users this month through an update. The feature will be available as an option for both individual and group chats. It allows the user to send a self-disappearing message, which gets deleted after seven days. WhatsApp’s Disappearing Messages feature will be available for Android, iOS, and KaiOS devices. It will also be available for WhatsApp Web and Desktop clients. WhatsApp’s Disappearing Messages feature: How it works WhatsApp will soon let users send message that self-disappear after seven days. Once enabled from settings, the new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear automatically. Important to note, the Disappearing Messages setting will not affect messages sent previously or received in the chat. In an individual chat, either user can turn disappearing messages on or off. In a group chat, however, only group admins ...

  WhatsApp on Thursday launched the much-awaited 'Disappearing Messages on its platform for both Android and iOS users that will automatically delete new messages sent to a chat after seven days when turned on. In a one-to-one chat, either person can turn disappearing messages on or off. In groups, admins will have the control on the new feature. "Our goal is to make conversations on WhatsApp feel as close to in-person as possible, which means they shouldn't have to stick around forever. That's why we're excited to introduce the option to use disappearing messages on WhatsApp," the company said in a statement. The Facebook-owned platform is starting with the seven-day limit "because we think it offers peace of mind that conversations aren't permanent, while remaining practical so you don't forget what you were chatting about". Read More

  WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new 'Expiring Media' feature that will let users send self-destructing media on the popular messaging app. The upcoming ' Expiring Media ' feature is an extension to another under-development feature called 'Expiring Messages'. WABetainfo, a website that tracks WhatsApp in Beta, has spotted Expiring Media as part of WhatsApp for Android's new beta version 2.20.201.1. This upcoming WhatsApp feature is similar to that found in Snapchat, which was later copied by Instagram. When this feature will be enabled, users will have an option to set expiration when they share media files, the report said. Those who will receive any "Expiring Media" can only view them for a single time and once they exit the chat, they will disappear without any trace unlike "This message was deleted" message when the sender deletes messages. Read More

  WhatsApp is testing multi-device feature, which would let users use the Facebook-owned instant messaging platform on different devices simultaneously. The feature is currently ‘work in progress’ and it is reported to be in the final testing stage. It is expected to roll out to early beta testers soon. Like other WhatsApp beta features, the multi-device feature will roll out to everyone in graded manner once it pass through beta testers. However, there has been no confirmation on the feature roll out timeline. In retrospective, WhatsApp allows single-device access and users currently cannot use the instant messaging through multiple devices. Users can, however, use Whatsapp on mobile and desktop simultaneous through app and web client, respectively. The multi-device feature would allow WhatsApp users to link multiple devices from single account. Therefore, it is likely that the feature will enable the instant messaging platform on multiple devices simultaneously. The feature...

  Common Services Centers (CSC) on Thursday launched a WhatsApp chatbot for people to access its digital literacy services and resources. Aimed to bridge the digital divide and spur rural entrepreneurship, the service provides access to information related to course modules of government flagship programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) and the Digital Beti initiative in English, Hindi and seven other regional languages. To access the service, people need to send a “Namaste” at CSC Academy’s official WhatsApp account +91-9999189321. The Chatbot provides access to details and course modules of flagship programmes. Through the 'Digital Beti' initiative, the government aims to train 5,000 rural entrepreneurs on digital literacy in over 3,000 villages across 10 Indian states. The PMGDisha initiative focuses on making at least 40 per cent rural households digitally literate. Read More