If you updated your WhatsApp app then you might be familiar with this new WhatsApp voice notes feature released by the popular messaging app. The latest privacy setting disables ‘Read Receipts’ for voice notes.
This simply means as compared to the past where you’d see blue ticks on the voice notes when someone has listened to them, now the new WhatsApp voice notes feature keeps them grey. There is no way of knowing whether someone listened to the voice note or not unless they respond to it.
Also read: How to record WhatsApp calls on Android and iPhone with these easy steps
New WhatsApp voice notes feature favours the privacy-conscious
While some people especially those who are privacy-conscious don’t mind this new WhatsApp voice notes feature, some of the other app’s users are not happy about it. People relied on this setting to know whether their voice notes have been listened to or not. If the person you are talking to turned off their Read Receipts, you won’t know whether they’ve listened to your voice note or not.
As WhatsApp recovers from the heat that it was caught up in at the beginning of the year, it has since introduced a number of updates for users as it faces tight competition from other messaging platforms like Telegram and Signal that took advantage of the app’s hard times.
Users of the Facebook-owned app have witnessed a number of updates to WhatsApp like the ‘mute audio’ feature and WhatsApp voice and video calls for the desktop version. The app still has a lot more in store for its over 2 billion users with anticipated features like the WhatsApp mention badge feature.
Read more: WhatsApp voice and video calls now available for desktop app
As WhatsApp does its best to regain its customers with the latest features every now and then, it has also been putting in effort lately to remind people that it does not have access to private user information which was one of the biggest concerns with the application at the beginning of 2021. It also announced that eventually users will have to accept the new terms of use by May or risk losing their accounts and messages.
According to WhatsApp, the new privacy policy is to enable seamless integration between Facebook and WhatsApp for business accounts and people’s private messages will still remain private since the app will have no access to them. Many users are yet to be convinced as some moved on to other apps like Telegram.
Read more: WhatsApp posts status to reassure users about privacy update.
Read more: WhatsApp privacy policy update clarified after heavy backlash