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WhatsApp, the popular Meta-owned messaging, never seems to rest on its laurels. Always testing new features, the company recently revamped the status updates tray in their Android beta, giving it a sleek new look with bigger thumbnails and a more modern layout. But the changes don’t stop there – WhatsApp appears to be doubling down on enhancing the status update experience, with a particular focus on making sure you see updates from the people you care about most.
A new feature currently being tested in the Android beta, dubbed “ranked status updates,” aims to prioritize updates from your most important contacts. This means that instead of seeing updates in strictly chronological order, WhatsApp will intelligently reorder them. This is based on several factors, including how often you interact with each contact, whether they’re pinned to the top of your chats, and how recently you’ve messaged them.
Keen-eyed users may notice the absence of timestamps on status updates. This is a deliberate design choice, as WhatsApp shifts its focus from displaying the newest updates to showcasing the most relevant ones. Reportedly, all the data used for ranking updates remains on your device, so your privacy is not compromised.
However, this new feature isn’t without its quirks. If you reinstall WhatsApp or link a new device, the ranking system essentially resets, meaning it will take some time for the app to relearn your preferences. Additionally, if you use WhatsApp on multiple devices, the order of status updates may vary slightly due to differences in synced chat histories.
As of now, the ranked status updates feature is only available to a limited number of beta testers. But if it proves successful, it’s likely to be rolled out to a wider audience in the near future. So keep an eye on those WhatsApp updates – your status feed could soon become a whole lot more personalized and engaging.
