WhatsApp announced the ‘revamped Status update’ to the world three weeks ago and it was a move by Facebook to make sure its users get to enjoy Snapchat features without necessarily using Snapchat. I found the move to be unnecessary really and I sort of missed the old simple status message WhatsApp had.
Well, it is back, sort of and it has been given a new name. On the latest beta release of the Android app (ver. 2.17.95), WhatsApp has brought the classic status update and it has been given a new name “About” which is quite interesting.
The above screenshots show the difference between the current WhatsApp for Android versions where the beta version (2.17.95) is on the left and the “normal” version is on the right (2.17.79). As you can see on the beta app, they have added “About” on the title where you can see your classic WhatsApp status.
When you tap on your “about”, it will load the preloaded “abouts” and you can compose your own “about” (It sounds really weird saying about). The interesting thing is that people with this version of the beta app will be able to see other people’s “abouts”. Users with the regular app are only able to see the previous message they received or sent on the chats page and not the “abouts.”
WhatsApp may have brought back the old status probably due to an outcry but since they gave the Snapchatty feature its previous name, they had to come up with a new one for it. The choice to name it “about” is probably positioned as a place to give a short description (like a Twitter bio) about yourself so let’s see if they will roll it out to all users later on.