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Whatsapp Testing a Standalone App for iPad and Working on a New Feature to Restrict Fake News

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According to a report from WABetaInfo, Whatsapp is testing its latest version for the iPad users. Noticeably, Whatsapp has been the most favourite messaging app for both iPhone and Android users, but it has always lagged behind for its iPad users, who could only use the web version of Whatsapp by connecting it with their iPhones.

Whats App for iPad
Image Source: iphonehacks.com

The company is about to update its Whats App version to v2.19.40, which now may also be available for the iPad as a standalone App. The users now will be able to use Whatsapp directly on their iPads by signing in to the app through their registered phone number. This is great news for the iPad users as now they will have access to their WhatsApp account on a bigger screen, and even by splitting the screen, it will provide better visibility.

Also, amid the elections, the company has also revealed a few new features, among which there is a new option for Android users, where the group admins will be able to stop the frequently forwarded messages such that to help stop the spread of fake news. The feature will only be available for the group admins and will appear on the sub-section of the group settings. It will be enabled by default, and the group admin can disable it from the settings.

Though the company has mentioned that the feature is still in its development phase, this is one of the most desired features for every Whats App user, especially in India.

On one hand, the iPad is about to get its own standalone Whatsapp ‘app’, which will include all the features like chatting, video calls, etc., and all the bug fixes. On the other hand, people will be able to ignore the fake news and stop them from further spreading.

The company has not revealed any launch dates for the both as both are still under the development and testing phase.

WhatsApp to Soon Roll Out a Fingerprint Authentication Feature to its Android Users

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According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp may soon release a fingerprint authentication for its Android users along with the much awaited ‘Dark Mode’ feature. The company had been testing the beta version of the dark mode feature for Android for quite some time, and now a report is surfacing confirming the release of the same.

whatsapp
Image Source: pymnts.com

WhatsApp is testing its beta app version number 2.19.82 and has submitted a new feature report to the Google Play Beta Program, which also includes the ‘dark mode’ feature in it. Facebook has already added the dark mode feature to its messenger, and according to the reports it soon will be bringing the feature to its other messaging app WhatsApp.

The dark mode has also been adopted by apps like Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, etc. The feature helps reduce the battery consumption for the AMOLED and OLED smartphones by reducing the full display pixel utilization. The company has also uploaded a screenshot along with the report that shows the dark mode in notifications settings, account settings, data and storage settings, and chat storage.

Also, WhatsApp has already provided its iOS app users with Face Id as well as Touch Id authentication for both iPhone and iPad, and now the Android users will also be able to use the Touch Id feature to authenticate their WhatsApp.

The new security feature has been spotted in the Android beta version 2.19.83. By default, the fingerprint authentication will be disabled and to enable the Touch Id for WhatsApp the users can select the option ‘Use Fingerprint to Unlock’, in the Privacy option under Account settings. Then the users will be asked to register their fingerprint for the authentication process. And, then the users can select the time span after which WhatsApp should lock, when not in use, i.e. after 1 minute, after 10 minutes or after 30 minutes. After enabling the fingerprint authentication, users will have to unlock the app with their touch Id, every time they would want to use it.

Though most of the Android users are already using the third party app locks for WhatsApp, an inbuilt authentication feature will add an extra security zone, and the users can ditch the other apps for the security.

The company is also testing and is about to roll out features including frequently forwarded and forwarding info and the audio file name in chat. The frequently forwarded and forwarding info feature will show the number of times a message has been forwarded, which may help in opposing the spread of fake news. Also, the audio file name in chat will show the name of the audio file sent over WhatsApp chat.

Ezetap CEO Abhijit Bose Appointed as the WhatsApp India Head

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WhatsApp is planning to expand its business outside the U.S. and has appointed Abhijit Bose, co-founder and CEO of payment device maker Ezetap, as the head of WhatsApp India, in order to build a bigger team outside California. Facebook-owned WhatsApp confirmed the news on Wednesday and said that Bose will join WhatsApp in early 2019, and will be based in Gurugram. The main operation of Bose will be to constitute a team that will work towards curbing the spread of fake messages.

abhijitbose
Image Source: livemint.com

The Indian government had been putting pressure on the company to take some actions against the spreading of fake news in India, through the WhatsApp messaging app. Less than a month ago, the vice-president of WhatsApp, Chris Daniels, and the IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had a meeting, where Danial had discussed regarding the team he had constituted in India, that will start functioning soon against the spread of the fake news. Around two months ago, WhatsApp had also appointed Komal Lahiri as its first Grievance Officer for India.

Matt Idema, the chief operating officer of WhatsApp said, “WhatsApp (the company) is deeply committed to India and is excited to keep building products that help people connect and support India’s fast-growing digital economy. As a successful entrepreneur himself, Abhijit knows what it takes to build meaningful partnerships that can serve businesses across India.” Bose with his team will also help the companies of small to large scale with easy communication with their customers. The company is also focussed on creating and introducing new products for the Indian public.

“WhatsApp is special and can be a major partner for financial inclusion and economic growth in India. It’s not only how so many families stay in touch, but increasingly it’s how businesses are engaging with their customers. WhatsApp can positively impact the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, allowing them to actively engage and benefit from the new digital economy,” said Bose.

Bose has been responsibly operating a huge business from past seven years, and he knows the technicalities of how to handle a big team. Appointing him as India’s head, WhatsApp has taken the first step to sustain its presence in India, as it was slammed by two notices from the Indian government for not taking any actions against the fake news spreading on WhatsApp. The second notice even stated that if WhatsApp will not put adequate checks in place, the govt will consider the messaging app as the supporter of rumour distribution and legal consequences will follow against the company.

WhatsApp in the realms of Digital payment

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When it comes to messaging apps, the popularity of WhatsApp overshadows all with a user base of around 1.2 billion. That said, the grip is even stronger in India with user count going over 200 million. Facebook Inc. was quick to grab the opportunity when it bought WhatsApp for 22 billion $ in 2014. And after 3 years of its acquisition, the time is here to capitalize on that move.

Going by the report of India-based media company The Ken, WhatsApp is planning to introduce peer-to-peer digital payment in India within next six months. It may be a UPI based service, a cross-bank transaction system supported by Indian government, but nothing can be said for sure. Keeping in mind the changes Indian commerce is going through, the move makes sense “contributing more to India’s vision of completely digital economy”

In January 2017, there were in total more than 262 million transactions through digital payment services worth some $1.3 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India — up from 100 million transactions last October. This was followed by the demonetization of old currency notes to crack down on tax evasions and counterfeits. Due to lack of hard cash, consumers as well as retailers had to make the major shift of choosing online mode of payment. And they did! Fear brought the change in this case and everyone seems impressed by the efficiency and ease of use these digital platforms provide resulting in this boom.

Facebook recently incorporated support for digital payment in its Messenger app. But, the update was not available for Indian users. WhatsApp is way more popular in India and with the kind of reach it has, such a move might be the most influential step in transforming India. There are some new players in this game as well. Truecaller responded fast enough to the opportunity. Just a week back, the company officially announced its tie-in with ICICI bank, utilizing UPI to bring peer-to-peer transactions on their platform.

Analysts Neil Shah told the Financial Times that the app is already used for selling goods, although informally. “I’ve seen people selling baby clothes, medicines, art and craft supplies — it’s become a Craigslist type of offering,” said Shah.

 

WhatsApp founder, Jan Koum: Journey from a cleaner to billionaire

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Building up dreams takes not much effort but turning them into life sometimes require more than an age. But if you firmly decide to follow your dreams until they become a reality, no power in this world can hinder your way.  Jan Koum, the co-founder and CEO of the most popular mobile app, WhatsApp, once worked as a cleaner. It was his hard work, commitment and passion that Facebook who rejected him once for job acquired WhatsApp for whopping $19 billion.

Jan Koum

Jan Koum was not born in riches; his father was a construction manager and mother, a housewife. Despite the financial crisis, the family lived in peace in a small village of Ukraine. But the uprisings brewing in Ukraine disrupted even their little happiness and he had to move to California along with his grandmother and mother when he was 16. However, his father could never make it to meet them after. The life for him changed to worse. Although they got a small apartment there but their daily needs remained unfulfilled. He had to wait in long queues to collect food stamps. He had to take up a job as a cleaner in a grocery shop to support his family while his mother took the job of babysitting to meet their ends. In all Koum then was leading a miserable life with little hope and scope for the betterment of their situation.

Love for computers and professional journey

Despite all these troubles Jan didn’t compromise with his studies and while studying in his high school he began developing love for computers and programming. By the time he completed his schooling he had already mastered in computer networking and was no less than a self-taught engineer. He then got himself admitted in San Jose State University to complete his education and at the same time took up a job successfully at Ernst & Young to meet up the expenses on his education. There he worked as a security tester which further intensified his passion for computers. Because of his love for programming and networking he finally managed to buy a computer at the age of 19. While working on an assignment of Ernst & Young where he had to test the security level in Yahoo’s advertising system, he met Brian Acton who then worked at Yahoo and later became the co-founder of WhatsApp.

Later Koum got a job at Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer while still pursuing his studies. But then came a time when he had to choose between two, either to continue his college or to secure his job at Yahoo. Although the decision was quite a risky one as his whole life depended upon this decision yet without much dallying he chose Yahoo. He worked for about 9 years there and developed close bonds with Brian Acton who held same interests as Koum.

Rejection by Facebook

After serving 9 years in Yahoo Koum found him getting clogged at the same place as the company did not offer him much scope to work in the field of social media which always allured him. And then again he took one of the most difficult and important decisions of quitting his job in 2007. Brian Acton too left the company at the same time to follow their interests in social media. Both then applied in Facebook and Twitter for jobs but got rejected. Yes! Jan Koum was not welcomed by Facebook and Twitter.

In 2009, he bought an iPhone and this is where sprouted the idea of WhatsApp. On looking at Apple app store, Koum felt the need and possibility for an application that could facilitate easy and cheap communication. He approached Acton with his idea and the duo then got themselves engrossed in the making of this app. They named it as WhatsApp Inc. in February 2009 and finally launched it in 2010.

WhatsApp

Today, WhatsApp is most popular app in 109 countries with more than one billion users. However, everything didn’t work as planned after the app was launched as it kept crashing in the initial phase and also the duo were finding it hard to promote the application. Their relentless efforts failed and after few months Koum decided to call off the whole project. But then Brian Acton came forward as a support system and infused hope in him and then the slope of their success never face a downfall. In October 2009, WhatsApp Inc raised $250,000 in seed funding. WhatsApp gained much popularity and the number of downloads kept increasing with 200 million users in February 2013 and crossed 1 billion in February 2016. Witnessing the rapid growth and increasing popularity of the app, Facebook acquired the app for $19 billion in the year 2014. As per the records, WhatsApp has become the most popular application for messaging and is used by one billion people today.

WhatsApp

Image Credit: Wikimedia.org, Jan image Credit: Flickr: Dan Taylor

WhatsApp on Desktop: What You Can and Can’t Do With it?

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Checking WhatsApp messages at work, without peeking into your phones every now and then away from the prying eyes of the bosses, is easily possible thanks to the launch of WhatsApp Web: the desktop version of the popular mobile-messaging app.

 

“Today, for the first time, millions of you will have the ability to use WhatsApp on your web browser,” read the announcement on company’s blog much to the elation of millions who are most of the time working on the desktop for work and other purposes.

 

Before you jump to install the desktop app, you should know the strengths and limitations of the app. The web client currently supports Google Chrome browser only and works with Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry device (not iPhone).

 

To Install WhatsApp on Desktop, all you need to do is open https://web.whatsapp.com in your Google Chrome browser and scan the QR code that you see there inside of WhatsApp on your mobile phone. The new service will be launched on your desktop and you can freely chat with your friends and colleagues on your desktop.

 

Points to be kept in mind

The first thought that might have come to many minds after hearing the announcement was- Can I now use WhatsApp only on desktop, independent of mobile phone. Sorry, that isn’t the case.

Your phone has to stay connected to Internet. The two devices- mobile and desktop- are paired. So, if by any chance you lose the internet connection on your mobile phone or switch it off, the desktop version will shut down as well.

 

Secondly, you have to ensure you are using the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone in order to use the web client.

 

What You Can Do With WhatsApp Desktop Version

Send and Receive Messages on Desktop: Since the web client is an extension of your phone, you can easily chat with your friends on desktop. All the messages between your smartphone and desktop are synced. Which means all messages sent and received on desktop are automatically available in your mobile phone too.

 

Chat with your colleagues: If your colleagues are on your WhatsApp too, you can quickly exchange messages or any other work related information with them via WhatsApp web client. That way, WhatsApp can promote productivity at workplace too!

 

Participate in Running Group Chats: You can chat in the groups that were started on your mobile.

 

What You Can’t Do With WhatsApp Desktop Version

  1.  Can’t use it on your iPhone: The service doesn’t work with iPhone at present. WhatsApp gave the following reason for the same on its blog, “Unfortunately for now, we will not be able to provide web client to our iOS users due to Apple platform limitations.” We guess iPhone users have to wait a little for the service since they plan to support this in coming time. For the time being, users have to keep checking their mobile phones to check every message you get on WhatsApp. Just make sure you don’t do that too often at work; it doesn’t cast a good impression.
  1.  Can’t use it on Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.: As we told you in beginning itself, the service works on Google Chrome only at present. Surprisingly, Google’s own product- Google Hangouts will now suffer with WhatsApp latest release since Hangouts were most commonly being used to exchange messages at workplace.
  1.  Can’t use independently of your mobile phone: Like we said before, your mobile phone needs to stay connected to internet in order to use the service on your desktop.
  1.   Can’t create new groups, leave old ones or block users: WhatsApp users can’t create a new group using the desktop version. Neither can you leave old ones. To block users spamming you, you have to use your mobile phone too.

This was a long awaited feature since other messaging platforms like Facebook, Google Hangouts and Wickr already synced messages between smartphone and computer. Other popular mobile messaging apps, including Line, WeChat, iMessage, Viber, etc. also already had desktop versions. Over 700 million users use WhatsApp and the desktop version will expand the use of this platform. It only gets better for WhatsApp with each passing day. Give WhatsApp Web a try and tell us how you like it.