If you notice something new on WhatsApp today, you’re not alone – the app just adds some new features to its updates tab, including channel subscriptions, promoted channels and status ads.
WhatsApp is getting a username so you can eventually stop sharing your phone number
“Today, we are introducing some new features to our update tab, which is home to channels and status,” Meta, a company that owns WhatsApp, said in a blog post. “For the past two years, we have been working to make you a place where you discover something new on WhatsApp, and now 1.5 billion people use it every day. We are enthusiastically encouraged and want to help administrators, organizations and businesses grow on WhatsApp.”
Mixable light speed
Users can now pay a monthly subscription fee to get exclusive updates from specific channels. Channels can improve themselves to pop up the user’s screen to help users “discover new channels” and mainly help administrators “improve channel visibility”. Finally, if a business is promoting its status service, users will be able to chat with them about their products or services.
Meta says this should not break casual WhatsApp users who only chat with the app, as these features will only appear in the Updates tab. The company also assured users that they “built these features in the most personal way.” Everything is still end-to-end encrypted and you can update your ad preferences in the Account Center.
