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New WhatsApp Features 2016

Posted on April 30, 2016 by David

WhatsApp is a constantly evolving solution to which new features are continually being added. The speed at which these features get added makes it almost impossible for users to keep up with them.

To keep up with the process, we took a look at some of the more intriguing new features. Some of them are simply neat but others are real game changers. We’ll start with the biggest new tools first then move to the fun solutions.

End-to-End Encryption

This could be the biggest thing to happen to WhatsApp since Facebook bought the solution two years ago. On April 5, 2016, Jan Koum and Brian Acton announced that everything sent through the newest version of the messaging solution will be encrypted.

Since the encryption is automatic, all you’ll need to do to use it is to download and install the latest version of WhatsApp. The best place to find the latest version of WhatsApp is at the service’s website . Make sure that you download the version for your particular device you own if you want it to work.

Once the latest version is installed, everything you send over WhatsApp; including videos, text messages, phone calls and even group chats, will be encrypted. That means it is supposed to be private from everybody, including WhatsApp’s own employees.

The company would not even able to comply with a court order to decrypt the information, Wired reported . That means security is best WhatsApp feature, and perhaps the most important.

Cloud Storage Integration

iPhone users will be now be able to send a variety of information to popular cloud storage solutions including iCloud Drive, Drobox, Google Drive and OneDrive. That means you will be able to store a variety of information including videos and photos to cloud storage through WhatsApp.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to send Microsoft Office Documents such as Excel Spreadsheets and Word documents to storage, unless you convert them to something like a Google Doc. Media reports indicate that this feature is not yet available for Android hones yet.

Larger Group Memberships

Activists, businesspeople and others trying to create a large network will be happy to know that the group member limit has been increased from 100 to 256. This will be invaluable for those trying to use WhatsApp for marketing or publicity purposes.

This update is only available for both iOS and Android device. There is no word on whether it will be rolled out for Windows, Blackberry and Nokia gadgets.

Better Document Sharing

Another aspect of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to make WhatsApp more business friendly is enhanced document sharing via Android phones. If you use the latest version of WhatsApp on an Android device you will be able to share PDF documents.

You will not be able to share Word documents or spreadsheets unless you convert them to PDFs. Fortunately that can easily be done on most PCs and Macs by simply printing or saving the documents as a PDF.

To share a PDF simply tap the attachment icon in the upper right corner of the screen when you are in the chat window. Then select the document option, which will let you see all the PDFs stored in the system. This means that WhatsApp is slowly becoming a cloud-storage solution and a data-transmission medium for business and commerce.

Since it now boasts End-to-End Encryption, WhatsApp could soon become one of the world’s most popular means of sending documents. There’s no word on when this feature will be available for iOS or Windows devices, nor is there any word if it will ever work with Microsoft Office Documents.

Making it Easier to Keep Messages

A handy new feature will let Android users choose which messages they want to delete and those they want to keep. A beta-testing mode option lets users star a message so they can decide whether to keep it or not.

Making it Easier to Delete Messages

Android users now have the ability to delete messages that are over 30 days or six months old. Only the starred chats will be saved when you clear the messages.

A Better History Tab

A recent update will let users see which media and messages that they have shared with others. This will make easier to keep track of your communications and see who is sharing what with you. The history tab is part of the media screen that lets you see all your content.

Shared Link History Tab

There is also a shared-link history tab that lets you see all the links that you have shared. That way you will know exactly who has received the stuff you are sending out.

For example: a boss could check to see if her employees actually received the new sales contract she sent them in PDF format. A mother could check to see if her children got the latest pictures she sent them.

To access this feature simply tap the preview in the upper part of the screen. If you tap the bottom of the screen you will be able to share, delete and star items directly from the history tab.

How to get the Latest WhatsApp Features

Getting the latest WhatsApp features on your device is easy. All you need to do is download the latest version of the messaging app directly from WhatsApp’s website.

Media reports indicate that the most recent versions with all the latest features are posted there before the App Store or Google Play. To get the version for your device simply go to www.whatsapp.com and click on Download WhatsApp. This should take you straight to the Download WhatsApp Screen.

Once there, simply look for your device and click on it in order to get the latest version installed. Then follow the installation instructions that WhatsApp gives you.

How to get a Sneak Peak of Upcoming WhatsApp Features

If you have an Android device there is a way to see and use the latest WhatsApp Features before everybody else. All you need to do is to become a WhatsApp Beta Tester. Unfortunately, this option is only available for Android device users at this time.

To become a Beta Tester simply go to this Google Play page and click on “Become a Tester.” Testers will receive a beta version of WhatsApp with new features. Be careful though these are beta tests, so some of the functions will be full of bugs.

Five New Features Coming to WhatsApp on Android

Posted on April 25, 2016 by David

The great thing about WhatsApp is that it is always changing and evolving. The engineering team is constantly adding new features that can greatly enhance your user experience.

This goes doubly so for Android users because WhatsApp is basically an Android app. Most of the new features are tested out on the Android version before being rolled out to users of other operating systems. There are also a few features that are available to Android users but not to anyone else.

The best way to get all the latest WhatsApp features is to download the latest from the WhatsApp website. This is usually a little more advanced than the one available in Google Play. It would be a good idea for all Android users to download a new version from this sight every few months, because it is updated on a regular basis. Make sure that you download the Android version if you want it to work properly.

The Great New WhatsApp Features for Android

Some of the Great New WhatsApp features that Android users should be aware of include:

PDF document sharing. This feature has been ignored because of all the hype over end-to-end encryption but it is now possible to share PDFs with any WhatsApp user inside or outside a group. The only drawback is that only PDFs can be shared at this time. That means you will have to convert Word Documents or spreadsheets to PDF before you share them. Since WhatsApp now has end-to-end encryption it is now one of the safer means of sharing a document.

To share a document open the chat window, and look to the right hand of the screen. You should see an attachment icon and then a document icon, simply tap it to attach the PDF. It is currently possible to send PDFs to storage solutions such as Dropbox and Google Drive through WhatsApp on iOS but now through Android yet. One advantage to this feature is that PDFs can now be shared among groups.

Once the PDF is displayed you will get a file preview but the functions will be limited. Another drawback is that you will not be able to send PDFs to recipients who have not upgraded their WhatsApp to the latest version, though TechCrunch reports that WhatsApp will tell the contact to update WhatsApp to receive documents.

A big advantage to this will be to share documents with persons in countries with poor internet service and those without computer access. Another will be to send written information in the form of articles or books.

Star Messages to Find Them Later. This feature has been around for a while but a lot of people are not aware of it. This is the equivalent of bookmarking or making something a favorite online.

To star all you will need to do is choose the star in the top menu bar when the message is displayed. Some news reports indicate that it will be easier to save starred messages in the future. This feature can save you a lot of time and trouble, it can also prevent you from deleting important messages you might need or want to save.

Backup chats to Google Drive. If you are looking for an easy to use and safe means of storing messages, WhatsApp now backs up chats to Google Drive. This makes it easy to retrieve important information and saves you the hassle of searching through old chats for one particular message. It can also be a lifesaver if your phone dies, gets broken or gets lost or stolen.

Whatsapp-chat-backup-google-drive

To take advantage of this feature simply go to Menu > Settings > Chats and Calls > Chat Backup > Google Drive Settings. You can even set up how frequently you want to update data to Google Drive. Google Drive is a great resource it provides up to one terabyte of data so it will meet most people’s storage needs. You will need to participate a little in Google but it is a real bargain.

To get Google Drive or find out more about it simply visit this website . Note WhatsApp for Android currently does not work with other cloud storage solutions yet but WhatsApp for iOS does. If you want to send WhatsApp to one of those you will have to send it to an iPhone or to WhatsApp Web.Custom Notifications for People and Groups. It is now possible to differentiate between contacts on WhatsApp. This can enable you to tell important messages; say one from your boss or your spouse, from ones that might not matter.

To set the notifications simply chose custom notifications under notifications. You can choose a special ringtone, light, vibration or popup for each message. That way you will know actually need to take a call or message or not.

Hide your WhatsApp Status, Profile Picture and Last Seen. It is now possible to be on WhatsApp without letting everybody know you’re there. For example you might not want friends or casual contacts interrupting your business chat.

Whatsapp-Privacy

To change your status simply go to Settings>Account>Privacy once there you can choose who can see your status, profile picture and last seen. Please note that if you do not share your Last Seen, others will not be able to see it.

This way you could keep business contacts from seeing your picture or the last seen. It can also keep from knowing who you have been talking to.

The best way to discover new WhatsApp features is to use WhatsApp on a regular basis. It is always a good idea to go through WhatsApp every time you get an update to see what has changed. You can sometimes discover exciting new capabilities by simply going through the settings.

Another great way to keep up on the latest WhatsApp features is to regularly run a Google or Bing search for latest WhatsApp features. This can direct you to news articles and other resources that you can tell you what’s new at WhatsApp. You might just be surprised by all the new capabilities.

WhatsApp Video Calls

Posted on April 24, 2016 by David

The team at WhatsApp is apparently very close to adding video calling to the world’s favorite messaging solution.

whatsapp video calling leaked screenshots

Pictures of what is apparently a test of a WhatsApp video call appeared on a German blog called Macerkopf on December 21, 2015. The screen shots show what could be an incoming video call in a WhatsApp screen.

As you can see from the images above, the screenshot seems to show some of the symbols seen on WhatsApp. It also shows what looks like somebody’s living room, so this could be a picture taken by a tech and sent back to WhatsApp’s corporate offices in San Jose, California.

A Christmas tree can clearly be seen on the right, which seems to confirm the December 21, 2015, date. Despite these claims, the authenticity of the images is under dispute by Android Pit . They could have been faked by any prankster with access to Photoshop.

Little more is known about the images, although Macerkopf’s writers seem to think they show video taken with an iPhone, and they used the 2.12.12 version of WhatsApp. It is not clear if this is what WhatsApp video conferencing will look like or if it is simply a test of a possible solution.

Why You Cannot Make Video Calls on WhatsApp Yet

Many users are confused by WhatsApp because you can send videos over the app right now but you cannot make video calls. That is, you can send your best friend a clip from your favorite Star Trek episode, but you cannot video chat with Aunt Cathy in Des Moines yet.

Right now, you can send almost any video through WhatsApp by attaching it. All you need to do is go to the attachment button on WhatsApp (it’s the one that looks like a paperclip) then select the video and send it. You can also add a caption to the video. It is also possible to forward videos you receive from others. For example, you can send that funny cat video to your mom.

WhatsApp will obviously have to add video calls at some point because some of its rivals, such as the very popular Viber and Skype, already offer video, although it is not in a hurry to add video calls, because there is not much demand for them in many of the areas it operates in.

Since much of WhatsApp’s business is in developing countries with limited phone systems, it obviously does not want to add additional data that might slow the system. Many customers will resist adding video calls because of the data that might take up. The high cost of making data and the limited availability of good phone service and Wi-Fi in many areas make video calls impractical in much of the world.

Another reason why WhatsApp is delaying the introduction of video calling is to see how it works elsewhere. Jan Koum and Brian Acton are shrewd enough to let others invent the technology and work out the kinks before they start their own. That way they will know what works and what will not.

So What Would WhatsApp Video Calls Look Like?

The best way to see what WhatsApp video calls might be like and how they might look is to take a look at Viber and Skype. Viber in particular is the industry standard for WhatsApp.

Currently, video calling is available on Viber 5.0 or later and can only be used on certain devices, such as iPhone 4 and computers that run iOS 7. Video calls on Viber are made through the contact screen. Users can know if they can make video calls because Viber added a video icon.

Therefore it is probable that a video icon of some sort that will enable video calls will be added to WhatsApp. The video icon will appear next to the name and picture of the contact. To send them a video, simply tap on the video icon.

Obviously, you will still be at the mercy of the call recipient because he or she will have the right to simply refuse the video calls. You will also have the right to refuse the calls as well.

To receive a video call, all you have to do on Viber is click on the video icon when the call comes in. If you do not want to receive the video call, do not tap on the video icon. Currently on Viber, all video calls begin as audio calls to give you the option whether to receive them or not.

Viber also gives users a number of options, including turning Video calls on and off, sending a text message with video calls, muting the call, and transferring the call. It is not clear whether WhatsApp will give you those options or not, but it is a strong possibility.

How to Make Video Calls Now

The best way for WhatsApp users to make video calls now is to use another messaging solution that offers video, such as Viber . That can be a real hassle because the person you are calling will also have to use that app. You will also have to sign up for two different messaging solutions, which is an even greater hassle.

There are some apps available on the App Store, Google Play, and elsewhere that claim to make it possible to add video calling to WhatsApp. It would be a good idea to avoid those because they were not created by WhatsApp. That could open the door to serious security problems and interfere with WhatsApp’s operation.

One way that you might be able to get WhatsApp Video Calling before everybody else is to sign up for a WhatsApp beta test . During beta testing, WhatsApp recruits real people to test new solutions in the real world to see if they really work. You can sign up for such a test by sending an email to [email protected].

Simply state that you want to beta test, and list your name and your occupation in the email. You will have to send the email from your phone and an email account associated with it, for example, a Microsoft account such as Hotmail for a Windows Phone or Gmail for an Android phone. WhatsApp will get back to you if they want to use you as a beta tester.

Why Is Facebook Keeping WhatsApp Separate ?

Posted on April 15, 2016 by David

Many people will be wondering why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is keeping WhatsApp separate from his major social media solution. After all, some media reports indicate that Facebook spent as much as $21.8 billion in stock and cash to purchase WhatsApp.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jan Koum and Brian Acton

Interestingly enough, there are several good reasons why Mr. Zuckerberg wants WhatsApp to remain entirely separate from Facebook. Even though the reasons are not readily apparent to us, they are fairly obvious. Yet even some seasoned investors will be skeptical of the purchase because WhatsApp apparently lost $138 million in 2013, according to The New York Times Deal Book.

From a business standpoint, leaving WhatsApp separate makes a great deal of sense. It could also be a highly lucrative strategy that could make Facebook the most powerful and profitable force in the world of social media.

The Reasons Why Zuckerberg Wants WhatsApp to Remain Separate from Facebook

Some of the major reasons why WhatsApp will remain a separate entity from Facebook for the foreseeable future include:

WhatsApp is a smartphone-based solution, while Facebook is an inter-oriented application. Basically, Facebook is designed to facilitate communication over the Internet, while WhatsApp is designed to facilitate communication over phones. Those two functions require very different technologies that are in many ways are highly incompatible.

WhatsApp itself will do little or nothing to enhance Facebook. Since Facebook is designed to be used through computers, it would be hard to integrate with WhatsApp.

Integrating WhatsApp with Facebook would greatly diminish its value. Were WhatsApp to be seen as merely a tool to use with Facebook, a lot of people would not use it.

Facebook and WhatsApp reach entirely different audiences. Facebook’s users are mostly affluent people in developed countries with access to traditional desktop, tablet, or laptop computers. WhatsApp’s users are persons in developing countries with access only to phones. Part of the reason why Zuckerberg bought WhatsApp was to access a vast audience he could never reach through Facebook.

WhatsApp has a very different business model than Facebook. Facebook’s business model is to create a market for advertising by expanding its social network. WhatsApp’s model is to create a worldwide delivery system for a wide variety of services and possibly goods.

Facebook also relies heavily upon advertising revenue, while WhatsApp does not. This occurs partially because its creators, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, designed WhatsApp as an ad-free environment, which is part of its appeal. Making WhatsApp part of Facebook would destroy that aspect of its business and limit its appeal.

Zuckerberg also wants to keep Koum and Acton happy because they’re brilliant guys. He wants them to be working at Facebook when they come up with their next $21 billion idea.

Facebook can afford to lose $138 million a year at WhatsApp for a long, long time. The company reported a net income of $2.82 billion, a free cash flow of $1.412 billion and revenues of $15.94 billion on September 30, 2015, according to YCharts. That means Facebook can afford to lose money on WhatsApp for quite a while; Facebook also had $15.83 billion in the bank on the same day.

The value at WhatsApp comes from the number of active users. It has 900 million in September 2015. Obviously, it is very successful in that regard, so Zuckerberg has no reason to mess with success.

As you can see, Mark Zuckerberg has many very good reasons to keep WhatsApp separate for now, although that might change in the future because there is a strong possibility that WhatsApp and Facebook could be integrated at some point.

Will Facebook and WhatsApp Ever Be Integrated?

Perhaps the most intriguing possibility of all is that at some point in the future Zuckerberg will integrate all of his social media solutions—WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram—into one massive social media platform that will bring the Internet and phones together in a new form of communication.

The recent changes to WhatsApp, which include the WhatsApp Web interface for computers and video message, indicate that is entirely possible. Koum, Acton, and Zuckerberg do seem to be making WhatsApp more and more like Facebook.

Yet they may have other plans for WhatsApp. One strong possibility is that they might try to turn it into an ecommerce solution. People in many parts of the world, such as India, are already making use of WhatsApp for business. Some features, such as WhatsApp Lists, do seem designed for ecommerce.

A more grandiose plan could make WhatsApp into something like Google, which evolved from a humble search engine into a portal to the entire web. WhatsApp could serve as the Google of the developing world, bringing the whole web to them just as Google brought the web to the average people of American and Europe.

Google’s Present Could Show Us WhatsApp’s Future

If Zuckerberg wants to follow Google’s example, then WhatsApp could stay a separate company for the foreseeable future. In the summer of 2015 Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page totally reorganized their company into a new entity called Alphabet.

Alphabet is actually a holding company on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which owns a variety of businesses but keeps them entirely separate. Today, Google, which operates the search engine, YouTube, and Android, is actually a separate company owned by Alphabet.

Other companies owned by Alphabet, including Google Ventures, Google Capital, Calico, Nest, Fiber, and the research organization Google X, will be wholly owned by Alphabet but kept entirely separate. The reason for this is that those companies are entirely different from the search engine. Fiber is basically a telecom that owns, manages, and installs advanced fiber optic cable systems; Ventures is an investment bank, and Nest develops instruments.

Like Page and Brin, Zuckerberg recognizes that operating all the companies as one will invite disaster. So he intends to keep the various arms of his empire separate. Another reason for that is to reduce bureaucracy and the expenses it creates.

Naturally, many people will wonder how this will work and what it will look like. Nobody knows, but given Zuckerberg’s track record, it is likely to be big and highly successful. Facebook’s various social media solutions, including WhatsApp, Facebook itself, and Messenger, have 1.6 billion users, according to Empresa Journal . Keeping WhatsApp separate is the fastest, cheapest, and most sensible way to keep that empire expanding successfully.

WhatsApp End-to-End Encryption – How it works?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by David

WhatsApp has become the first major messaging provider to offer full end-to-end encryption to all users. This means that all data, messages, photos, phone calls, videos and photo calls sent through WhatsApp’s latest version will be automatically encrypted.

whatsapp-down

If the system works as advertised the only people who will be able to read WhatsApp messages will be the sender and the recipient. Among other things this will make it possible to keep a group chat completely encrypted. That will make WhatsApp of more use to business and make it easier to use the service as a data storage solution.

How to Take Advantage of WhatsApp’s End-to-End Encryption

“If you’re using the latest version of WhatsApp, you don’t have to do a thing to encrypt your messages: end-to-end encryption is on by default and all the time,” a WhatsApp blog post announced. This means all you have to do to send encrypted messages is to download and install the latest version of WhatsApp .

The encryption could work on a wide variety of gadgets including Android devices, iPhones, Windows Phones, BlackBerry units and even old-fashioned Nokia flip phones, Wired reported. If your device already works with WhatsApp it will work with the encryption.

Most importantly the encryption and the latest version of WhatsApp are free. The service is essentially a gift to the world from WhatsApp’s creators and their boss Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

WhatsApp’s Gift to the World

WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton made the announcement in a blog post dated April 5. The post reads as if it was written by Koum himself who also serves as WhatsApp’s CEO.

“The desire to protect people’s private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp, and for me, it’s personal,” the WhatsApp blog states. “I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn’t speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States.”

Koum spent his childhood in the Ukraine when it was still part of the USSR. He came to the United States with his mother when the family was seeking freedom.

The two are working with a well-known encryption expert who calls himself Moxie Marlinspike, Wired reported. Like Koum, Marlinspike, the head of Open Whisper systems, is an outspoken advocate of encryption.

The Risk WhatsApp is Taking

Both Facebook and WhatsApp are taking a huge risk by offering end-to-end encryption. Encrypted communication is increasingly under attack by law enforcement and others.

Last year the British government tried to ban WhatsApp in the United Kingdom because officials thought it was a security threat. More recently Apple was severely criticized for refusing to help the FBI crack an iPhone supposedly used by one of the terrorists behind the San Bernardino massacre.

The US government went to court and tried to use an old law to force Apple to unlock the device. Apple and its CEO Tim Cook were also attacked by a number of politicians including presidential candidate Donald Trump who threatened to organize a boycott of the company.

WhatsApp is taking an even greater risk than Apple did because it will have no way to unlock its encryption, Wired reported . The company would not be able to crack the encryption even if it law enforcement served it with a warrant ordering such an action.

In fact, the system is supposedly so tight that WhatsApp’s own employees cannot read the messages, a Wired article indicates. This will make it harder but not necessarily impossible for hackers and spies to read WhatsApp messages.

The service could obviously be facing serious political and legal consequences if criminals or terrorists were to use WhatsApp for communications. It could also run afoul of some governments if WhatsApp was used to organize protests and other forms of political activities.

Facebook could be served with warrants or court orders and possibly be banned in some countries if it refuses to decrypt messages. WhatsApp could also be thrown off of some telecoms in parts of the world phone companies provide WhatsApp free to all users.

Enhancing WhatsApp’s Value

A desire to protect privacy is not the only motivation at WhatsApp or Facebook, end-to-end encryption will increase the app’s appeal. Many people around the world want encryption but until only wealthy or middle class people in certain countries have been able to afford it.

Photo: Moxie Marlinspike

By offering end-to-end encryption WhatsApp provides a feature other messaging services lack. It also makes the service far more valuable for ecommerce, financial transactions and other businesses by providing an extra level of protection and security for sensitive data.

The next big use of social messaging services will be to facilitate ecommerce including electronic payment and communications between customers and businesses. Zuckerberg himself already admitted this in a message he sent out when WhatsApp achieved the milestone of acquiring one billion users in February.

“Next, we’re going to work to connect more people around the world and make it easier to communicate with businesses,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page on February 1.

Connecting the World for Ecommerce

End-to-end encryption brings that goal closer to reality by reducing one of the major objections to social media commerce the vulnerability to data theft. Zuckerberg and company are hoping that by increasing security they’ll make people more likely to send sensitive data and money over WhatsApp.

A major use for WhatsApp would be for people to transfer money to friends or relatives in other countries. Another would be to do business with companies in other nations, for example; a game designer in India could use WhatsApp to distribute and sell his games to people in the United States.

The real goal at Facebook and WhatsApp appears to be to create a global ecommerce platform that everybody in the world will have access to. Zuckerberg hopes to be able to facilitate commerce in much the same way that WhatsApp is facilitating communication.

End-to-end to encryption is one of the most important steps towards achieving that goal. This means that WhatsApp could become one of the most disruptive solutions in history and make Zuckerberg, Koum and Acton among the influential people in the world.

WhatsApp Tablet Interface

Posted on March 30, 2016 by David

Even though there is no specific WhatsApp interface for tablets, there is a way that you can run the popular messaging solution on most tablets.

The solution is WhatsApp Web, which is simply a version of the app designed to run on computers, including PCs and Apple products. Since WhatsApp Web is designed to run on almost any computer, it can run on a tablet as well. Something that many people forget is that a tablet is simply a laptop with a different design.

Installing WhatsApp Web will help you to do anything you normally do on WhatsApp on your tablet. More importantly, it can help you save money by reducing data plan usage because WhatsApp Web operates directly over the Internet. Therefore you can use it to access WhatsApp directly over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or by accessing the net the old-fashioned way, by plugging your tablet into a broadband outlet.

Note: If you are using your tablet as your phone, you can install regular WhatsApp on it just like a phone. That is only possible if you are not using WhatsApp on your phone. If you already have WhatsApp on your phone, you will have to install WhatsApp Web to access the solution on your tablet.

A Browser for WhatsApp

Therefore a good way to think of WhatsApp Web is as a browser to enable you to access and search WhatsApp, much as Google lets you access and search the Internet. It lets you use WhatsApp much as you would other chat and email functions on your computer.

A big advantage to WhatsApp Web is that it lets you communicate directly with persons’ phones in real time through your computer. For example, a supervisor could use it to communicate with employees in the field via her tablet. The employees could even send over data, including pictures and videos.

More importantly, WhatsApp Web can let you use the solution on both your phone and your tablet at the same time. That means you can access WhatsApp messages while you are out and about and when you are working on your tablet at home or the office.

How to Use WhatsApp Web

Even though it is basically just an extension of WhatsApp, WhatsApp Web requires a little more effort and resources to install. Here is what you will need to install WhatsApp Web on your tablet.

If you have a PC with a Linux or Chrome operating system, make sure that you have the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, or Opera up and running on your tablet. If you have an iPad, make sure that you have the latest version of Safari installed. This is critical because WhatsApp Web is constantly updated and will only work with the latest versions. The best way to do this it to download the latest one from the browser’s website and install it.

You will need an active WhatsApp account on your phone. If you do not have one, you will need to set one up.

You should have a stable Internet connection. This means it is a good idea to plug your tablet into a broadband connection when you install WhatsApp.

How to Install WhatsApp Web

To install WhatsApp, you will have to take these steps:

Use the latest version of your browser to go to https://web.whatsapp.com/.

Choose your operating system.

Open WhatsApp on your phone.

Go to Menu>WhatsApp Web. This is found in different places on different phones. In Android and Blackberry devices, this is in the Chat screen; in Windows Phones and Nokia S60, it is under Menu. On iPhone, it is in Settings, and on the Nokia S40, it can be swiped up from the bottom of the screen.

Scan the QR code for that system with your phone.

Navigate to WhatsApp Web to make sure it is active.

Note: WhatsApp recommends that you always connect to WhatsApp Web via Wi-Fi. It is a good idea to make sure WhatsApp Web is working in Wi-Fi.

Like WhatsApp itself, WhatsApp Web is a fairly foolproof solution; once it is up and running, it should work. You should be able to access WhatsApp Web as soon as you can scan the QR code. If that does not work, you will probably need to reinstall it.

Once it is up and running, you should be able to do everything you do on WhatsApp on your tablet. That includes sending and receiving audio and video messages, documents, and pictures. It also means that you can use WhatsApp to chat with friends and colleagues on your tablet.

Make sure you keep WhatsApp Web updated. Like WhatsApp itself, the online version is constantly being improved. To work properly, you should have the latest version on your tablet.

Some WhatsApp Web Security Concerns for Tablet Users

Tablet users need to take some additional security precautions because tablets with a traditional Internet or Wi-Fi connection are less secure than phones. Since WhatsApp Web operates online, it is possible for hackers and malware to penetrate it.

A few additional precautions that you should take when using WhatsApp Web on your tablet include:

Always turn WhatsApp Web off when you are not using it. Do not leave it up and running when you are not using it.
Add a lock app to your WhatsApp. This keeps people from accessing it without a pin. There are many such solutions available at Google Play, the Windows Store, and the Apple Store.
Always turn your tablet off when you are not using it, and make sure it is locked and password protected. You should do this to keep crooks from accessing your WhatsApp the old fashioned way—by stealing your tablet. Make sure you keep your tablet turned off or at least password protected when you are not using it at work or in public to keep others from reading your messages.
Change your WhatsApp phone number and passwords if your tablet gets lost or stolen.
Be aware of your surroundings, particularly on buses, trains, and planes and in public places like waiting rooms or lounges. Make sure nobody can read what’s on your tablet, such as your passwords, by looking over your shoulder or glancing at it.
Do not install WhatsApp Web connected to your personal phone on a tablet that belongs to someone else, such as your employer. That could give others such as your boss access to your WhatsApp. If you want WhatsApp on your tablet, buy your own.

WhatsApp Web is a very handy solution, but there are some potential security problems you should be aware of. Understanding them can help WhatsApp Web make your life easier without giving the bad guys access to your information.

Is WhatsApp Killing Twitter ?

Posted on March 21, 2016 by David

WhatsApp could be slowly destroying one of the biggest and most prominent brands in social media: Twitter. The available statistics prove that not only is WhatsApp far popular than Twitter but it is growing at a much faster rate.

Numbers provided by Statista show that WhatsApp has around 900 million active users worldwide, while Twitter has around 316 million. That means WhatsApp is now almost three times larger than its rival, even though Twitter has been around longer; Twitter started in 2006, while WhatsApp debuted in 2009.

What’s truly interesting is the rate at which WhatsApp is growing compared to Twitter. Information collected by Geek Crunch Reviews shows that the rate at which Twitter has been growing is steadily falling. In early 2013 Twitter was growing at a rate of around 45%, yet by June 2015 it was growing at a rate of less than 20%.

At the same time, WhatsApp’s growth rate was accelerating. Data provided by Statista show that WhatsApp gained 100 million active users between April and September 2015, Empresa-Journal reported . That means WhatsApp was adding around 20 million active users a month.

Is WhatsApp Stealing Users from Twitter?

It looks as if WhatsApp has been gaining users at a steady rate. This rate of growth also raises an interesting question for Twitter: Is WhatsApp taking users away from Twitter, and if so, how many?

That question can be hard to answer because there are undoubtedly some people who use both WhatsApp and Twitter. To make matters worse, some people who switch services may not cancel their accounts, meaning that they could be registered as Twitter users even after they have abandoned the social messaging application.

Twitter has certainly suffered from this situation. Its stock price has fallen dramatically over the past year. On January 7, 2015, Twitter was trading at $37.28 a share; by January 8, 2016, it was trading at $19.98 a share.

That means Twitter has lost nearly half its value in a year. The situation is fairly pathetic because at one point Twitter stock was trading at prices of around $60 a share.

Twitter Is Losing Money While Facebook Is Making It

It is also easy to see why Twitter’s stock price is so low. The company is not making any money, according to data provided by YCharts. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) reported a net income of -$556.15 million on September 30, 2015. That means the company lost $556.15 million, a little over a half a billion dollars.

To make matters worse, Twitter reported a free cash flow of -$4.808 million, meaning it was losing money on its operations. Not only is Twitter having a difficult time attracting users but it has not been able to generate any cash off the users it has attracted.

Okay, to be fair, WhatsApp loses money too, but it is part of a larger company, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), that makes a lot of money. Facebook reported a net income of $2.828 billion and a free cash flow of $1.412 billion on September 30, 2015. That means Facebook made nearly $3 billion while Twitter lost over half a billion.

Not surprisingly, Facebook’s stock was trading at $97.41 a share on January 8, 2016. That made for an increase of nearly $20 a share from January 8, 2015, when it was trading at $78.17 a share.

Twitter Getting Desperate

The financial numbers show us that Twitter’s business model does not seem to be working, and Twitter seems to know it. The blog Recode reported that Twitter was considering abolishing its famed 140-character limit for tweets.

The reason for this seems to be to allow for more data to be sent out through Twitter; in other words, to make it more like WhatsApp, which allows people to transmit huge amounts of data, including documents and news. Another reason could be to add advertising and other potential money-generating content for Twitter, perhaps to let people send out fiction or even videos and charge for them.

According to the CBC , Twitter is planning to adapt its service so that large files can be embedded within the tweets. The most likely reason for that is to send out news and other large files. The most likely purpose for that change would be to allow the sending of large files, such as magazines or newspapers, over Twitter in order to charge subscriptions for them.

Interestingly enough, Twitter users were very hostile to the idea of large tweets, possibly because it changes the short and simple format the service currently uses. The CBC reported that large numbers of them voiced their displeasure with the idea by sending out negative tweets.

Is Twitter Becoming More Like WhatsApp?

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has apparently backed down somewhat and said the service is merely a means to add large files to Twitter—in other words, yet another scheme to make it more like WhatsApp.

Obviously Dorsey and company would not be trying to make Twitter more like WhatsApp unless they thought there was a need for it. My guess is that large numbers of Twitter users are moving to WhatsApp because they like the ability to send large files, including videos, pictures, and documents, through a messaging service.

Social media seems to be evolving beyond just messages, and social media services are increasingly becoming platforms. WhatsApp is at the cutting edge of this trend by providing a world platform that allows people to send information to anybody that has a smartphone.

The executives at Twitter are afraid they’re getting left behind and that they will soon be losing large numbers of customers to WhatsApp. They’re trying to head off the losses by imitating WhatsApp, a strategy that may not work because WhatsApp already has a much better reputation with users.

Therefore, one has to wonder if it is not a matter of time before Twitter collapses and gets bought up by a competitor, perhaps by Facebook, which already owns WhatsApp and Instagram as well as Facebook Messenger. Twitter would certainly be a good addition to Facebook’s staple of social media brands.

It looks as if WhatsApp is actually killing Twitter; the once popular social media service seems unable to compete in today’s world of social media.