Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook is all set to debut new features. The instant messaging app for mobile phones began in 2009 and after that it has been adding and upgrading features consistently. The app was the brainchild of Brain Acton and Jon Koum, who previously worked in Yahoo. The app first debuted on the iOS platfrom.
The instant messaging app debuted during the time when mobile apps were introduced to the world. The app in its initial version allowed users to create a profile with a status along with it.
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Relating to the debut of the push notification feature by Apple, the developers of the app could ping users when they are in the idle mode. This signifies that whenever a user in the app changed the status, an alert will be sent to the others.The designers introduced a messaging service in its second version. This resulted in a massive increase in the number of users. To tackle this the brand switched from free to paid model. In December 2009, the app was enhanced to transmit photos.In 2014 the app was acquistioned by the Social giant Facebook .Currently the app boasts of 1 billion users and is the undisputable king of instant messaging apps.
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The Functioning of Whatsapp
The app incorporates expandable messaging and presence protocol guideline which is tailored taking the app into account.
Whatsapp scans the phonebook of the user to scan and sync the prevailing users onto the contact list of the app.
The software goes through the phonebook of the user and scans for existing users to automatically add to the contact list of the platform.
The app goes by the store and forward policy which implies that when users transmit any message, they are saved on the app’s server and then sent to the receiver. Once the message is sent, it vanishes from the server. The duration of the messages in the server is 30 days after which the message is automatically removed.
Various Whatsapp Upgrades
Encryption
In the year 2011, an issue was identified in the app where the platform was vulnerable to session hijacking and packet analysis.As of 2012 the whatsapp messages are encrypted.In 2014 Open Whispers Systems collaborated with Whatsapp to supply end to end encryption for the messages.Every message sent now has a key allocated to it. It signifies that messages are sent and received with a small delay. However this delay is not big to impact the conversation rate. A confidential chat is used to enable end to end encryption in case of apps like Telegram, but however, for Whatsapp it is enabled all the time.
Latest updates
The app has incorporated the feature of sending files like PDF, DOCS and VCF through the platform.Whatsapp has added options related to the display of words during messaging like bold, italics etc. Featured additionally is an attribute which permits users to save particular media from users and groups. Hence the smartphone is imbibed with the aspect of saving internet data and preventing the phone from being cluttered with needless data.
From the start of 2016, the messaging app has been augmenting several traits with the most recent one being the zoom option.Users can reply quickly by making use of the in-app alerts and the missed calls are displayed on the chat itself.In January 2016, Whatsapp founder announced that the one dollar subscription fee for the app has been removed.Advertisements are restricted from the app’s platform.Initially, there was only one admin per group, but now multiple admins can be allocated to the group.
Expected updates –
It has been integrated with features like transmitting videos & voice messages and voice calling. Now it has ventured into video calling as well.No news regarding the launch of this attribute are known, but it looks like the obvious target of the app.Whatsapp is venturing into launching group chat invites via QR codes and NFC tags.
1. NFC tags
Near Field Communication tags make use of some power from the attached phone to convey data. Similar to floppy disks, info is integrated via any app in the smartphone, for example, NFC task launcher. The app permits users to integrate data with the tag which is synced with the various activities over the phone.
2. QR codes
Apps which can access the data within Quick Response Codes are available. This is used to generate an invite for group chat. Previously, this feature was not available and the grou[ admins incremented the users.To sustain for a longer period of time, updates are mandatory. There are many brands already vying in the market related to messaging including Telegram, Line and SnapChat which provide unique and captivating attributes for the customers. Whatsapp designers must experiment regarding how the extra features perform on networks which are slow.
3. Safety Concerns
There are many security bugs with this app, which have been patched frequently. Succeeding the accession of Whatsapp by Facebook, Facebook executives have received a warning from UK’s privacy commissioner regarding the viewing of the data by FB.Whatsapp has the options to enable or disable this functionality. However, the users are not wary regarding this and it has contributed to several notifications from governments regarding Facebook’s privacy policy
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4. Whatsapp On The Web
Whatsapp is noted to design a native app for Windows 10 so that it can stay in pace ahead of its competitors.
- The History of Whatsapp Along With Its Various Updates - February 21, 2017