Since then, linked devices support has expanded and more information is written in the Platform Support part of this article. In October 2020, WhatsApp rolled out a feature allowing users to mute both individuals and group chats forever. According to the company, messages could be edited within a 15-minute window after being sent. Edited messages were tagged as “edited” to inform recipients that the content had been modified. On February 24, 2017, WhatsApp launched a new Status feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories. The Cloud API enables businesses to integrate WhatsApp with other software, have a central WhatsApp account for multiple users and implement advanced automation.
Linked and multi-device support
- According to the company, messages could be edited within a 15-minute window after being sent.
- According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol.
- However, the WhatsApp privacy policy does not apply in the EU, since it violates the principles of GDPR.
- A Wired report noted the attack was able to inject malware via calls to the targeted phone, even if the user did not answer the call.
- Similar to voice messages, this feature allows users to record and send short videos directly in a chat.
- Unlike messages in groups or private chats, channels are not end-to-end encrypted.
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This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to pay for more services like this – or so the hope goes. By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members. The Starzbet service was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion.
Industry-leading data protection
In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving the company. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after less than 24 hours. On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents.
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- In April 2023, the app rolled out a feature that would allow account access across multiple phones, in a shift that would make it more like competitors.
- Previously, users could opt-out of such data sharing, but the new policy removed this option.
- The company also reported that Windows Phone operating systems would no longer be supported after December 31, 2019.
- They link to and sync with WhatsApp actively running on a supported primary phone.
- Three days after announcing the Facebook purchase, Koum said they were working to introduce voice calls.
- In July 2017, WhatsApp added support for file uploads of all file types, with a limit of 100 MB.
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Version History
- WhatsApp is owned by Meta, whose main social media service Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009.
- End-to-end encryption was only fully implemented in April 2016 after a two-year process.
- WhatsApp Payments (marketed as WhatsApp Pay) is a peer-to-peer money transfer feature.
- In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving the company.
- Visual effects also became available, adding visual filters to a user’s video feed.
- WhatsApp was announced to be the 3rd most downloaded mobile phone app of the decade 2010–2019.
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End-to-end encryption was only fully implemented in April 2016 after a two-year process. According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants.
Telegram Messenger
In July 2025, WhatsApp stopped developing the Windows UWP-based app due to poor support and deprecation of the UWP framework by Microsoft. In 2023, WhatsApp replaced the Electron-based apps with native versions for their respective platforms. As of 2025, the software requires at least Android version 5.0 or iOS version 15.1 respectively. WhatsApp also introduced chat filters, allowing users to sort their chats by All, Unread or Groups. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS “soon”.