WhatsApp working on showing when your friends update their status right in your chat list

2 min readJun 9, 20225:17 AM

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WhatsApp is on the updates accelerator once again and is working on another feature to make your life easier. WABetaInfo has unearthed a feature to display your status update directly on the Chats page in WhatsApp for Android, and this handy feature is currently under development.

Roughly a month ago, the company was reported to be working on a similar feature for iOS. But WhatsApp has not forgotten about Android users. We now see the social media platform is working on displaying status updates in the chat list for WhatsApp Android as well.

So far, the feature has been spotted during a WhatsApp desktop beta, and it is under development for Android and iOS.

The thing with WhatsApp status updates is currently that they are, in a way, quite invisible. You need to know specifically to look for someone’s status update, in order to find it. When this new feature is completed, you will be able to see who published a new status update directly in your chat lists. That way, you won’t miss important status updates from your friends.

This feature was first spotted, as we already mentioned, on the desktop version of the popular chat app. Here’s a screenshot preview from when the change was first spotted:

According to WABetaInfo, if you chose to click on the chat cell, WhatsApp will open the conversation, and if you click on the profile pic of the contact, the app will show you the status update itself. On this screenshot, the first contact has published a status update. It seems that it will look quite like someone who has published a story on Instagram, for example.

Reportedly, the feature cannot be disabled from WhatsApp Settings, so once it becomes official, you are probably stuck with it. The publication, however, is not currently giving any time frame for the release of this quite useful feature. Android and iOS users will both have to wait for now until they can enjoy being up to date with all your chat friends at a glance (and a tap — but way easier than what it is now!).

For those of you who are curious about the process: we know that once the feature is developed, it comes first to those chosen ones before making its way to the general public. With that being said, it might be some months before we see the feature live.

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Questions & Answers

Is this new status update feature available on all WhatsApp versions yet?

No, the feature is currently under development for Android and iOS. It was first spotted during a WhatsApp desktop beta, but a release timeframe is not yet available.

How will users see these new status updates once the feature is released?

When complete, users will see who has published a new status update directly in their chat lists. Tapping the contact's profile picture will show the status update itself.

Can this new status update display feature be turned off by users?

No, according to reports, the feature cannot be disabled from WhatsApp Settings. Once it becomes official, users will likely not be able to opt out of it.

How long might users have to wait for this new feature to be rolled out?

The publication has not given a timeframe for its release. It is suggested that it might be some months before the feature is widely available to the general public.