WhatsApp has become the latest tech giant to add a story feature to its mobile platform.
Working in a similar way to Snapchat & Instagram’s Stories features, WhatsApp’s new Status tool lets users take photos and videos within the app, edit them together and post for contacts to view.
The new section appears on the bottom menu alongside Chats, Calls and Camera, and enables users to create their own status, and view their contacts’ statuses.
To make a Status, users add a photo or video in the Status section, where they can also crop and edit to include emojis, text, a caption and drawings, then stitch together with other media to create a story.
Each uploaded status will then disappear after 24 hours.
Users can also choose who will see their status in the privacy section.
WhatsApp explained the introduction of the feature in a blog post: “It was just eight years ago, in February 2009, when we started writing the first lines of code for what would eventually become WhatsApp.
“The original idea behind the project was to build an application that lets your friends and other contacts know what you’re up to. This was months before we added messaging.
“Even after we added messaging in the summer of 2009, we kept the basic “text only” status functionality in WhatsApp.
“Every year, when Brian and I would plan projects to work on, we always talked about improving and evolving this original “text only” status feature.
“We are excited to announce that, coinciding with WhatsApp’s 8th birthday on February 24, we are reinventing the status feature.”
WhatsApp’s Stories-style feature follows similar moves from fellow Facebook-owned platform Instagram, as well as the likes of Bumble, which recently introduced BumbleVID.
BumbleVID works almost identically to Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories, letting users collect together photos and videos into a story, and add it to their profile.
Read more about WhatsApp’s Status feature here.