Want to know more about WhatsApp Status? Want to see who viewed your WhatsApp Status? This tutorial will cover the feature and how to use the feature that many don’t even know exists.
WhatsApp Status has been around for several years but many people don’t even know about it. Promoted to take on Snapchat Stories, it turned out pretty quietly, with no fanfare and marketing social networks generally used to post feature updates. It offers the same image, text, and video sharing capabilities of Stories, with the same 24-hour lifespan. It’s a nice idea that no one is using.
WhatsApp has never been about pictures or videos. It has always been about the convenience of text messages, group chats, and encrypted messaging between friends or colleagues. Maybe that’s why WhatsApp Status didn’t come out as Snapchat Stories has. Because it doesn’t quite fit the purpose of the network. Whatever the reason, today we are going to take a look at what WhatsApp Status is and how to use it.
What is WhatsApp Status?
WhatsApp Status was introduced to keep WhatsApp competitive against Snapchat and Instagram. Both networks have similar features that disappear after 24 hours and offer limited updates whenever WhatsApp wants to take action. This feature was introduced at the beginning of 2017 and has been available ever since.
You can find WhatsApp Status in its own tab above your conversation list. As long as you’re using a recent version of the app, it should be there. Tap the tab or swipe left from the home screen to access it. It’s been there for a long time but it’s easy to overlook and many people I asked didn’t even realize it was there.
How to add WhatsApp Status
Given how simple it is to use WhatsApp, updating your Status is as easy as doing anything else in the app. Select the Status tab and select ‘My Status’. Then you can add a message, video, file, image or GIF to add to your Status. You can also add text or emoji to further customize the file.
From the status window you can edit, resize, flip and rotate with pinch gestures, change the color and font of any text, and do other minor editing tasks. When done, hit Submit and publish immediately.
WhatsApp Status will stay live for 24 hours before disappearing forever.
See who viewed your WhatsApp Status
If you want to see who viewed your WhatsApp Status, you can. You can see exactly who is viewing it from the Status tab.
Tap the Status tab in WhatsApp and then tap your status. Then swipe up from the bottom.
Select the eye icon to see who has viewed your WhatsApp Status.
When you open My Status, you should see a list of your updates and a small eye and a number to the right. This number is the total number of views your Status has received.
Views Not Showing
It’s worth noting that you can’t see who viewed your status updates when read receipts are on. Whatever the reason, the developers of WhatsApp decided that if you want to see what others are doing with your content, you have to give them something. If you can’t see who has viewed your status, do this:
Open WhatsApp and tap the three vertical lines in the upper right corner. Tap on Settings.
Tap on Account.
Tap on Privacy.
Finally, open Read Receipts. They appear even if you didn’t open them when you first posted your status.
Submit a status update
If you find that you are not getting enough views, you can manually forward the WhatsApp Status to a chat. I wouldn’t do this very often as it might bother your links, but if it’s something particularly relevant or important, it’s possible to do it.
- Open My Status and select the update you want to forward.
- Select the green forward icon and choose where you want to forward.
You can select a recent conversation, favorite contact, another person, group or use search to find a specific person. Press Forward and your update will be added to the corresponding chat or a new chat will be created.
WhatsApp Status privacy
Only people you save as contacts can see your WhatsApp Status. No one else will be able to see them, so privacy is taken care of there. You can refine this further if you want from the settings menu.
- Select the Status tab in WhatsApp.
- Select the three-dot menu icon and select Status Privacy.
- Set your option.
You have three options here, My Contacts so everyone can see it, to restrict certain people from seeing it…
Delete WhatsApp Status
Although every WhatsApp Status deletes itself every 24 hours, there are times when you need to step it up a bit. You can manually delete your update at any time, for example:
- Open the Status tab and select the three-dot menu icon.
- Select the status update you want to delete.
- Select the eye icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Select the trash icon and then Delete to confirm.
Your update will be deleted immediately and will not be visible to anyone unless it is already open on their screen.
