Tag: whatsapp

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Mobile Syrup

Upcoming WhatsApp update will tweak user’s About section

The popular WhatsApp messaging service is no stranger to user interface adjustments.

While the About section has previously allowed for more than one line of text, everything past the first line would get cut off when viewing contacts in list form. The update will now provide an extra line of text for increased visibility.

The latest update is now available for those enrolled in the WhatsApp beta program. The build is version 2.23.8.25, and can be installed through the Google Play Store.

The Meta-owned company has provided a number of other updates so far this year, including voice status updates and status emoji reactions.

The extra line of text will first appear to a smaller group of beta testers before rolling out to everyone in the program, according to WABetaInfo.

Source: Android Police via WABetaInfo

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp is working on auto-disappearing group chats

WhatsApp is already lauded for its privacy-focused features, including end-to-end encryption, disappearing messages, the ability to limit your information to only those in your contacts, biometric protection, two-step verification and more.

Now, the company is reportedly testing out a new feature that will allow group chats to disappear after a set period of time automatically.

WhatsApp currently features disappearing messages, view-once media and 24-hour status updates. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has just submitted a new update through the TestFlight Beta Program that brings expiring groups to the chat app.

It’s worth noting that the feature is still under development, so it is not ready to be released to beta testers. Hence, a public release for the feature isn’t coming any time soon.

The new feature, called “Expiring Groups,” will allow users to set a specific expiration date for their WhatsApp groups. “Once the expiration date is reached, users will be prompted to clean up the group,” wrote WABetaInfo.Screenshots of the feature indicate that users will be able to set the expiration date for the group as “One Day,” “One Week” and  a “Custom Date.” There’s also an option to remove the expiration date from the group.

The description for the feature reads, “When enabled, you will be prompted to clean up groups on the expiration date.” The description is vague and does leave much to interpretation. It’s likely that WhatsApp will just prompt you to delete the group chat on the expiration date, or it might delete the group for you automatically.

According to WABetaInfo, the feature is in the works for iOS but will eventually make its way to Android as well. As mentioned earlier, we’re uncertain if and when the feature will be launched widely.

Image credit: WABetaInfo

Source: WABetaInfo

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Mobile Syrup

You’ll soon be able to send original quality images on WhatsApp

One of the major drawbacks of using WhatsApp is that it compresses images sent over the messaging service.

Now, as spotted by WABetaInfo in WhatsApp beta for Android ‘2.23.2.11 update,’ WhatsApp finally seems to be working on a new feature to allow users to send photos in their original quality.

It’s worth noting that a feature already available in WhatsApp, called ‘Media Upload Quality,’ lets you select between ‘Auto,’ ‘Best Quality,’ and ‘Data Saver’ options to send images. However, even with ‘Best Quality’ selected, WhatsApp doesn’t send photos in their original quality, and compresses them ever so slightly. This allows for faster messages and less storage space taken up.

With the new Beta update, however, WhatsApp plans to integrate a new setting icon within the drawing tool header where users would be able to configure the quality of photos being sent, including ‘original quality.’

The new feature is included in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.2.11 but is currently under development and not yet available to beta testers. It’s unclear if this new feature will also extend to videos sent on the platform. There is also no release timeline for the new photo quality picker.

Source: WABetaInfo

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp’s new proxy support and how to use it

The world’s most used messaging service, WhatsApp, announced on Thursday, January 5th, that it’s adding proxy connection support to the platform.

That means that in cases where your connection is blocked or disrupted, you’ll still be able to maintain access to WhatsApp to get in touch with your loved ones. Using a proxy allows you to connect to WhatsApp through servers that are established by volunteers and organizations committed to facilitating free communication.

Said proxy connections maintain the level of security WhatsApp normally offers. “Connecting via proxy maintains the high level of privacy and security that WhatsApp provides. Your personal messages will still be protected by end-to-end encryption — ensuring they stay between you and the person you’re communicating with and are not visible to anyone in between, not the proxy servers, WhatsApp, or Meta,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post about the feature.

This comes soon after the Iranian government tried to block WhatsApp due to widespread protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. The feature is available to use globally, though its primary use case is to aid Iranians in keeping in touch.

To use a proxy server, you’ll need a proxy port — 80, 443 or 5222. To look for a proxy, according to WhatsApp, users will have to “search through social media or search engines for trusted sources that have created a proxy.” Since the feature is still new, not many people know about it. Once it becomes more widely known, finding proxy ports through volunteers and organizations on the internet shouldn’t be too difficult.

The proxy connection support is available for both iOS and Android users. Make sure you’re running the latest version of WhatsApp and follow the steps below:

On iPhone:

  1. Open WhatsApp and head to settings
  2. Tap on Storage and Data
  3. Tap on Proxy and enable the toggle
  4. Enter the proxy address and tap Save to connect
  5. If the proxy port is correct, you should see a Green checkmark to indicate that the connection is successful

On Android:

  1. Open WhatsApp and go to the Chats section
  2. Tap on More options and then Settings
  3. Tap Storage and Data and then on Proxy
  4. Tap Use Proxy and Set Proxy
  5. Enter the proxy address and tap Save to connect
  6. If the proxy port is correct, you should see a Green checkmark to indicate that the connection is successful

According to WhatsApp, using a third-party proxy will reveal the IP address of the user to the proxy provider. These types of proxies are not offered by the platform itself. Further, if you are unable to send or receive WhatsApp messages while using a proxy, it is possible that the proxy might have been blocked. To fix this, you can delete the blocked proxy address by long pressing it and then entering a new proxy address to try again.

For those interested in setting up a proxy to help others connect, check the Tweet below:

It’s worth noting that I haven’t been able to locate any created proxy. If and when found, this article will be updated.

It’s also worth noting that Signal has long allowed users to connect to its service and send/receive messages with a proxy connection. It added the feature for Android in February 2021 and iOS in September 2022. Learn more about Signal’s proxy support here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp will stop working on iPhone 5 and 5c soon

WhatsApp will stop working on dozens of devices come December 31st.

According to WhatsApp’s support page, the app runs on Android 4.1 and newer and iOS 12 and newer.

As reported by 9to5Mac, along with several other media outlets, the popular messaging app discontinued support for iOS 10 and iOS 11 in October. Both the iPhone 5 and 5C were last updated with iOS 10.3.4 in 2019.

The app’s inability to work shouldn’t come as a surprise to users, WhatsApp says on its support page. “Before we stop supporting your operating system, you’ll be notified directly in WhatsApp ahead of time and reminded a few times to upgrade.”

WhatsApp will also stop working on the LG Optimus, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC Desire 500, and the Lenovo A820 by year’s end.

Source: WhatsApp Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Nearly half a billion compromised WhatsApp numbers up for sale

More than 480 million WhatsApp users’ phone numbers have been compromised, and the database of the numbers is currently up for sale on a hacking forum.

As reported by CyberNews, 487 million WhatsApp numbers are up for sale, and they belong to users from 84 different countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, India and more.

Out of the 487 million, the database contains more than 44.8 million numbers from Egypt, 35.5 million from Italy and 32.3 million from the United States. Canadian compromised phone number count isn’t as high as some of the other countries, coming in at roughly 3.5 million.

Image credit: CyberNews

Folks at CyberNews were able to get in touch with the seller of the database, who then shared a sample of the database. CyberNews investigated the sample shared, and confirmed that the numbers included, in fact, are WhatsApp user phone numbers.

“The seller did not specify how they obtained the database, suggesting they ‘used their strategy’ to collect the data, and assured Cybernews all the numbers in the instance belong to active WhatsApp users,” reads the report.

The leaked phone numbers could be sold to marketers, who are often willing to pay a high sum for such a large quantity of active numbers, or they could end up in the hands of fraudsters and impersonators.

Currently, there seems to be no way of finding out if your phone number ended up in the data leak. One way to know for certain, however, is by purchasing the database on sale.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CyberNews

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp rolls out Communities, 32-person video calls, 1,024 user groups and more

WhatsApp’s long-awaited ‘Communities‘ feature has officially launched.

The feature, which is an extension of Groups, allows WhatsApp users to form sub-groups under a main community group, similar to Discord. For example, you can have a master chat/community about your organization, with sub-chats/groups consisting of individual teams within the organization.

The feature will replace the camera tab on Android devices, while the communities will appear as a new option on the bottom bar in iOS devices.

“Once you’re in a community, you can easily switch between available groups to get the information you need, when you need it, and admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community,” reads WhatsApp’s blog about the feature.

Within Communities, and normal groups, users would now also be able to create in-chat polls, initiate 32-person video calls, and form groups with up to 1,024 users, all while keeping chats completely end-to-end encrypted. “With Communities, we’re aiming to raise the bar for how organizations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else,” says WhatsApp. “The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption.”

Communities and all the accompanying features are rolling out now, and are expected to be available to all users globally “over the next few months.”

Learn more about WhatsApp Communities here.

Image credit: WhatsApp

Source: WhatsApp

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp is working on a message edit button

Following in Twitter’s footsteps, WhatsApp is looking to add an edit button to the messaging app.

The new feature is rolling out in WhatsApp ‘Beta 2.22.22.14,’ as first shared by WABetaInfo.

With the addition of the ‘Edit’ feature, any messages that have been changed/fixed after being sent will be denoted with an “Edited” tag, as seen in the screenshot below:

Image credit: WABetaInfo

Additionally, WhatsApp will give users precisely 15 minutes to edit a message, and the message may not appear to be edited for the recipient if they do not check the message within a specific amount of time (probably, a day or a little more, says WABetaInfo.)

The feature is currently under development, and we don’t have an estimate as to when the feature would widely roll out, however, it’s neat to see the most popular global mobile messenger app finally offering its users a way to rectify typos or wrongly worded texts.

Source: WABetaInfo

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp Beta adds multi-device support for Android tablets

WhatsApp users have had to option to link their account to up to four additional devices, including WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Desktop and Facebook Portal, since last year. Now, WhatsApp seems to be extending the support to tablets.

As found by WABetaInfo in WhatsApp beta ‘version 2.22.21.6,’ the company is releasing a new ‘Companion Mode,’ that allows users to link their existing WhatsApp account with an Android tablet. It’s worth noting that multi-device support for smartphones is still non-existent.

With the new companion mode, users would still be able to link their existing account to four devices, including WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Desktop and Facebook Portal, and now, an Android tablet. If you’re a WhatsApp Beta tester, and have installed version 2.22.21.6, you can link your Android tablet to your WhatsApp account in the same way you’d link an account to WhatsApp Web.

Open WhatsApp and click on the three dots on the top right on your Android smartphone or the settings gear icon on an iOS device and tap on ‘Linked Devices.’ Tap on ‘Link a device’ and scan the WhatsApp QR code on your Android device, as seen in the screenshot above.

Once scanned, all chats from your smartphone will sync to the Android tablet, though you need to be connected to the internet. After being synced, you can use WhatsApp on the tablet even if the primary smartphone isn’t connected to the internet.

WABetaInfo warns that some features might be missing on the companion device, like viewing live locations and communities, with support for the missing features expected to be released in a future update.

If you want to try out the feature for yourself, join the WhatsApp Beta on the Play Store, or download WhatsApp beta version 2.22.21.6 from APKMirror.

Image credit: WABetaInfo

Source: WABetaInfo

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Mobile Syrup

WhatsApp Android beta gets themed icon support

One of the big features in Android 12 was the addition of themed icons that could leverage the new Material You colour scheme and transform app icons to match the rest of your device theme. Android 13 also worked to expand this feature.

However, at launch, the feature was, well, not great. The glaring issue with themed app icons was that only a handful of apps actually supported the feature, which meant enabling it would transform some of your apps, and the rest would remain unchanged. Likely not everyone would agree, but personally, it was jarring to have some apps matching my device theme while the rest didn’t.

Since then, developers have slowly added support for themed icons, with WhatsApp being the latest (and biggest, aside from Google’s own apps) to do so. It’s worth noting that WhatsApp only has the themed icon for beta users now, but that should change going forward. As per Android Police, this could signal that developers are getting on board with the themed icon system, but frankly, I remain skeptical for a few reasons.

Left: Enabling themed icons. Right (via Android Police): WhatsApp themed icon.

For one, there are a lot of Android apps out there and not every developer will add support for themed icons. Sure, maybe we’ll get to a point where every popular app supports the feature, and some people will be able to run themed app icons without a few odd apps messing up their screen, but I think the vast majority of Android users have at least one obscure app installed that will likely never get a themed icon.

The other factor, though, is usability. As nice as it looks to have all your apps sport a matching colour to your device theme, it can be tricky to find apps when they’re all the same colour. Sure, there are still different icons, but it can still be difficult for some to spot the app they’re looking for. So, I’ll keep themed icons turned off on my phone for now. Maybe I’ll change my mind down the line, though.

Source: WABetaInfo Via: Android Police