WhatsApp testing showing status updates in chat list

Following the success of Instagram Stories, Meta decided to bring the feature to pretty much all of its products and services, like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Now according to a report from WABetaInfo, it appears that WhatsApp is testing some changes where users will soon be able to see status updates in the chat list. If this looks familiar, it’s because it’s similar to what Instagram has done.

Image credit – WABetaInfo

On Instagram, users who have uploaded a Story that you haven’t seen will have a colored ring around their profile photo. This colored ring can be tapped and viewed anywhere in the app, like on their name while browsing your feed or on their profile photo in your direct messages.

Judging from the current screenshots of WhatsApp, it looks like the company is trying to emulate something similar, where users with status updates you haven’t seen will have a ring around their profile picture  that you can tap directly in your chat list. Prior to this, users had to tap on the Status tab at the bottom row to see it.

We can only assume that by making status updates more obvious in the chat list, WhatsApp could be hoping for greater discoverability, which might then encourage more users to use the feature (which we feel is quite underused on WhatsApp). As usual with all these betas, it’s hard to tell when the feature will be released (if at all), so we’ll just have to keep an eye out for it.

Source: WABetaInfo