Author Archives: Christine

It is finally available on Google Play Store the recent update that the many users of WhatsApp on Android devices were awaiting. This 2.12.250 update, as usual, was previously released as a beta version, and now it is available as a stable one. As always happens with new versions, the 2.12.250 brings several new features along with some bug fixes.

In addition to new emoticons (including the now famous “middle finger” emoji, which was hidden in the beta version, and the “Spock’s Vulcan salute”) and the possibility to choose the skin tone of emojis, you can now choose whether to mark a conversation as “unread” or as “read”. Next to the “unread” a green dot will be displayed together with a number next to the Chat tab.

Another important change introduced with this new version is the ability to customize notifications for individual contacts or groups. Furthermore you can set the “silent” mode, which allows you to mute sound notifications for individual contacts with a particularly useful feature that allows you to predefine the time period. With this new option you can mute the chat for eight hours, one week or a year, as you prefer.

To recap, these are the changes brought by this new version of WhatsApp for Android:

• you can mark your chats as read or unread;
• new chat custom notification settings and mute options;
• you can lower the data usage used during WhatsApp calls by simply going in Settings > Chats and Calls;
• when you receive a contact card you can now immediately message or save the contact if it’s on WhatsApp too;
• new emoticons. Now you can even choose a different emoji colour by tapping and holding on it;
• new language support: now WhatsApp supports Urdu and Bengali.

Unfortunately it seems that we still have to wait for the Google Drive Backup feature, even if WhatsApp has stated that they are working on it.

WhatsApp Web, the tool that allows you to send WhatsApp messages from your computer, is now finally available for Apple smartphones. In fact it has just been released a new update that allows you to use the popular instant messaging application with your iPhone.

So far, the system has been available only for Android phones, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, and had not yet been made available for the iPhone due to some difficulties linked to security systems used by Apple for its iOS, the operating system used for iPhone and iPad.

To use WhatsApp Web you do not need to install a program, it just works through a website that can be kept open on a tab of your browser. If you decide to use WhatsApp from your iPhone, you simply have to visit WhatsApp website and open the app on your phone. Once you’ve opened it, you have to go to Settings and tap on WhatsApp Web. At this point the app activates the iPhone camera and will ask to photograph the QR code shown in the Web page of WhatsApp.

With this procedure the system connects the WhatsApp account with the computer and authorizes the connection between the two devices. You will hardly find any surprises, because WhatsApp Web for iPhone has a very essential graphic and uses more or less the same features of the app already available on smartphones. So, in the same way, you are allowed to send photos, messages, emoji and voice notes.

WhatsApp Web for iPhone is being distributed and requires the latest version of the application, so it may not be available immediately on your iPhone. But how can you install WhatsApp Web on your iPhone? Don’t panic, it is quite easy. Let’s see together how to do it, step by step.

First of all ensure that you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your iPhone (this step is really essential), which currently is version 2.12.5. Once you are sure that you are using the latest version of WhatsApp, you can open the app and select the Settings menu. From here you should find a new menu named “WhatsApp Web”, you can tap it. Now take your Mac and open www.web.whatsapp.com (WhatsApp recommends that you use Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera).

At this point you have to use again your iPhone, where from the WhatsApp Web menu you have to tap‘Scan QR code’. Your iPhone will give you the necessary instructions, follow them and align your QR code scanner with the QR code you see on the WhatsApp Web website. At this point, if the QR codes are properly aligned, on the screen you should see a pop-up confirming that the setup was successful. Finished! From now on you can send and receive WhatsApp messages on your Mac.

It is a really busy summer for WhatsApp developers and, as a consequence, for its users. The first are working very, very hard to constantly improve this popular instant messaging application, and on the other hand, us, the users … well … we are very busy in trying to have the most updated version of WhatsApp on our devices.

You could think it’s a joke, but actually it isn’t. Infact during the last few weeks WhatsApp has released dozens of updates, mainly for Android devices, but also for BlackBerry, iPhone and all other devices supporting the app. WhatsApp does not seem willing to give up its primacy in the field of instant messaging communication (today it is the most used instant messaging app in the world,  with over 800 million users worldwide) and is working hard to cope with a fierce competition.

That being said, today let’s concentrate on WhatsApp for Windows Phone. During the last few hours a new beta version (2.12.100) has been released, which further enhances the functionality of the app on WP. First of all, one of the new features brings the ability to customise the ringtones for your VOIP calls, so you can finally pick the one you prefer for each one of your contacts.

In addition, users that today make their calls through Voip will surely be glad to know that another important change has been introduced. This last update finally allows you to get more information about your calls, including the duration and the amount of data consumed. Unfortunately we are not yet able to tell you when this beta will be available in a stable version, but hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.

The new version of WhatsApp for iPhone 2.12.5 is finally arrived and it includes many changes and improvements that certainly will be much welcomed by users of this popular app. These new features will further simplify the use of this widely used instant messaging service. And, more important, this last update is already available for free download on the App Store.

Every new version brings interesting features, and this time is no exception, as version 2.12.5 contain extremely useful enhancements. Among these we can note the silent mode available to single chat and the ability to share your location on Apple Maps. But let’s have a look in detail at these updates.

The first remarkable change introduced with 2.12.5 version allows users to reduce the consumption of data during calls and conversations. In fact you can now save some KB, and this possibility will certainly be enjoyed by those users with a tariff plan with daily limits. Another important update brings the ability to customise notifications settings and the silent mode for each single contact or chat, so as not to be disturbed while you are working, or during a family dinner.

Another major addition introduced by WhatsApp for iOS 2.12.5 is the possibility of include videos in chat backups in a very easy way. You will be able to do that by simply opening Settings > Chat and Calls > Chat backup. In addition, this new version of WhatsApp for iOS allows you to mark a conversation as read or unread simply with a swipe to the right.

Furthermore, you can also share your contacts directly from the app Contacts and also share your location on Apple Maps in WhatsApp. Also the VoiceOver support has been greatly improved, and there is also a new feature that automaticly loads messages on scroll. Another improvement is the one for cropping photos and videos, which now seems to work much better now.

During the last month WhatsApp developers have been much more busy than usual. Infact,  you may have noticed that many updates were released and now the many users of this popular (actually, the most popular) instant messaging application can enjoy several new features that have been rendered available. For example, one of the most funny, and maybe expected, was the introduction of the middle-finger emoji.Or custom notifications and the very useful “mute” option.

And that’s not all. WhatsApp seems to be unstoppable and during the last few days a new beta version for Android has been released. This new beta, version 2.12.214,  brings some further improvements and, as usually happens with betas, fixes some bugs. The APK file containes 17 modified files and you can immediately notice that it has been increased by 34KB. Most of the updated files are related to the application libraries.

So, interested in downloading this new beta on your Android device? Let’s see how to do that. Don’t panick, it is an extremely easy procedure. Obviously, the first thing you have to do to download this last update is to open whatsapp.com/android webpage. On the webpage you’ll see a “Download Now” button, just tap on it and the WhatsApp 2.12.214 APK file will be downloaded on your device. Easy, isn’t it?

However, remember that this update is still a beta version, so  you will not find it on the Google Play Store, which means that in order to install it on your Android device you have to enable the Unknown Sources Feature. Again, don’t worry. It is quite simple to use also this option. Just go to Settings->Applications or Settings->Security and tick the box.  Once you have enabled Unknown Sources, you have to go again back to where you have saved the APK file and press it to launch the installation.

Yes, it’s not just a rumour, it’s true. The release of Windows 10 was much expected, and now that it is available users will be glad to know that it will support WhatsApp Web too. Microsoft has confirmed that they are updating Edge, the new Windows 10 browser, so that it can soon support also WhatsApp Web.

As you know until now it was possible to use WhatsApp Web, the popular web app extension that allows you to send and receive messages using your PC, only through some browsers like Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. With Edge it was not yet possible to access WhatsApp directly from a PC, but, luckily for us, things are finally changing.

According to what David Storey stated, this gap will be solved as soon as possible. Storey, program manager at Microsoft, during the last few hours has announced that Microsoft and WhatsApp are keen to bring WhatsApp Web within Edge, but unfortunately gave us no further details about what seems to be an extremely important collaboration in the instant messaging field.

Currently we don’t know exactly when this update will be available, as the timing was not revealed, but we believe that these two giants won’t wait too long to satisfy their many users. It is logical to think that the WhatsApp Web will be introduced on Edge when Microsoft will add new extensions on its browser.

Unfortunately we do not know for certain when this will happen because the feature is currently being developed. We can only anticipate that people enrolled to Windows Insider program will be the first to have the opportunity to test the new features of Windows 10.

Furthermore, WhatsApp Web currently does not work with Internet Explorer 11, so  Windows 10 users will have to use other browsers that are supported by WhatsApp Web.

Can you imagine your life without Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or whatever other instant messaging app? Well, it’s hard. Many of us are now completely addicted to those communication systems. But even if you are not such a big user, you might be interested to know that from today you have one more app available to communicate with your friends and family.

The news is quite important because the owner of this new chat is Yahoo!. The company, which was very important in the field of messaging until a few years ago (particularly in the USA) has lunched this week its new service called Livetext. The announcement was given directly by Marissa Mayer, who is at the head of the organization. Yahoo! has had a slow decline during the recent years, and with Livetext is trying to start again its battle against other services.

Livetext is a messaging platform and it is halfway between Snapchat and WhatsApp. You can use Livetext, that is available now for Android and iOS devices, as a classical text chat with emoticons and video support, but without the ability to have the audio. So Livetext users are allowed to video text their messages. Yahoo! Livetext is now available on Google Play Store and App Store in the United States, Canada,France UK and Germany, while it was already available in Ireland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Livetext was officially launched during an event held in New York, and Adam Cahan (Senior Vice President of Video, Design and Emerging Products) has described this new app using these words: “We wanted to create a new way to communicate, blending the simplicity of texting with the emotion and immediacy of live video, to make your experience spontaneous and real”. Yahoo! proves to have the courage to try to enter a market already dominated by WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Recent statistics report WhatsApp as the most popular free app in the App Store in the UK, while Facebook Messenger wins the competition in the Google Play Store. As we know, both WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger include video calling among their features. The difference between Mark Zuckerberg‘s apps and Livetext is that this new Yahoo! service (like SnapChat) allows its users to exchange videos which are automatically deleted. So, what do you think , will Livetext have a bright future?