WhatsApp was highly criticised for introducing its new Status feature last month after which the company soon brought back the text status back on Android earlier this month. However, the company has also brought back the text status feature for iOS as well.
To get the text status feature back, you need to download the latest WhatsApp update for iOS which brings the version (v2.17.10). If you are a little confused, the text status feature is now labelled under About section. You can add your status by navigating to Settings inside the WhatsApp App > tap on the profile > About. Unlike the Stories-like status feature, this text status won’t disappear after 24 hours.Further, it also comes in default options such as At home, At School, Sleeping, Busy etc.If you were wondering if the text status feature replaces the Stories-like status, then you might get disappointed here. The Snapchat-like status feature is going nowhere and is still there with just a swipe away.
However, we still don’t get the old contacts tab instead to view someone’s status you have to either open the concerned contact’s profile, send a message or see it through group info if he/she is in the same group.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp has now added the GIF support to Google’s own keyboard app, Gboard as well. While the GIF gallery has been there in the app for over two months now (for Android), users couldn’t search for GIFs if they chose to enter emojis via Gboard and not from app’s own Emoji menu. However, the latest beta update now adds support for GIF in Gboard as well. The beta version which has added the support for Gboard is 2.17.110.