WhatsApp Business: New update reveals fresh details about upcoming app

A radically different version of the messenger app is in development, and could come out very soon

Aatif Sulleyman

Thursday 11 January 2018 13:40

WhatsApp’s upcoming Business app is one step closer to an official launch.

It will be completely separate to the regular version of WhatsApp that millions of smartphone users are already so familiar with, as it’s specifically designed to be used by companies, to help them stay in touch with their customers.

While WhatsApp Business hasn’t come out yet, a beta version of the app is available to download in a handful of countries around the world.

12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed

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1/1212 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed

You can unsend a message by tapping and holding it, hitting the Delete symbol and selecting Delete for Everyone. The feature works for all types of messages, but only if they were sent less than seven minutes ago.

WhatsApp’s blue ticks show when sent messages have been read, but you can disable them buy going to Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. However, bear in mind that, by doing so, you’ll lose the ability to see when your own sent messages have been read. Another, more fiddly way of reading your messages without triggering the blue ticks, is enabling Aeroplane Mode before opening your messages - just remember to close the app before switching Aeroplane Mode off again.

Prevent your friends from finding out when you were last online by hiding your last seen time. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. As is the case with disabling read receipts, hiding your ‘last seen’ time will also stop you from seeing anybody else’s.

You can control how much data you munch through on WhatsApp by limiting the types of media you automatically download on a mobile connection. Go to Settings > Data Usage and choose the best option for you.

If you’re expecting an important WhatsApp message from someone, set a custom notification for them by opening the chat, tapping their name at the top and hitting Custom Notifications.

To jazz up any of your messages, simply highlight it by tapping and holding it, hit the More Options key on the pop-up menu and tap the formatting option you want - bold, italic, strikethrough or monospace.

You can get Siri or Google Assistant to type your WhatsApp messages out for you by saying either “Hey Siri” or “Okay Google”, followed by the name of the person you want to message and the actual contents of the message.

When you’ve read a message but can’t reply to it straight away, you can set a visual reminder by marking it as unread. On Android, long-press the conversation, and on iOS, swipe from left to right on a chat.

You almost certainly won’t do this on a regular basis, but it’s a handy option to have. You can export entire conversations - complete with emoji and media attachments - by hitting More inside a chat a selecting Email Chat.

You can send the same message to lots of your contacts without lumping them all into one group, much like the BCC option on email, by hitting the New Broadcast option on the app’s main menu.

You pin up to three contacts and groups to the top of your WhatsApp conversation list by tapping and holding a chat, then hitting the pin icon.

You can easily mark key messages with a star, allowing you to find them easily when you need to. Just tap and hold a message and hit the star icon to save it, and return to it later by selecting Starred Messages in WhatsApp’s main menu.

WhatsApp has rolled out a new update for the beta version of Business, which suggests the app is stable and almost ready for an official release, according to WABetaInfo.

The update introduces a new feature called Labels, which makes it easier for companies to stay on top of orders and processes, and categorise their customers.

The available options are Prospect, New Order, Pending Payment, Paid and Order Complete.

However, WhatsApp Business users also have the option to create their own custom Labels.

WhatsApp Business will have a slightly different logo to the regular WhatsApp app, featuring a prominent B rather than a phone icon

When it’s ready, people will be able to place orders on WhatsApp and even receive updates from companies, like delivery confirmations and flight times, through it.

A fake version of WhatsApp Business made its way onto the Google Play store late last year, and successfully tricked people into installing it.

People should therefore wait until WhatsApp officially announces the release of the app before trying to get your hands on it.

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