A new Beta version of WhatsApp for Android users is available on the Google Play Store. Even if there is no change log for this latest 2.16.26 Beta version, we can tell you that the weight of this update is 29.16 MB (just 1.5MB more than the previous 2.16.25 version) and that, as usual, it comes with some bug fixes and performance improvements.
Certainly now everybody knows that recently WhatsApp has introduced end-to-end encryption for all messages and voice calls, a feature that seems to be really appreciated by WhatsApp users. But not all governments seem to agree with the users of this popular instant messaging app. For example India’s government, since it allows online services to use just up to 40-bit encryption, while WhatsApp uses 256.
That said, obviously the job of WhatsApp developers hasn’t come to an end, on the contrary, and the future of the app is full of new features. So, how can you install this latest 2.1.26 Beta version of WhatsApp for Android? If you are already a member of the Official Beta Channel, you can download it from the Google Play Store. If not, you can always download if from the APK Mirror.
Considering the incredible amount of messages sent through WhatsApp (about a million messages every two seconds), you might think that the Facebook-owned company employs hundreds of engineers. Well, you’re wrong. WhatsApp has a total of 57 engineers. At the last F8 Conference Rick Reed, WhatsApp software engineer, said that such a small size allows the company to stay nimble and explained that “The culture really has everything to do with our ability to scale” adding that “Our mission is to provide a simple, fast, reliable communications tool without a lot of extra bells and whistles“.
At the Conference Reed has also explained the company’s philosophy, which is, to use his own words, “no-meeting culture“. Instead of meetings it seems that WhatsApp staffers use “various chat programs to talk to each other constantly, within small project groups. It really allows us to stay focused on what we’re doing and it really contributes to a very quiet office“. Is it the secret of the success of WhatsApp? Certainly not the only one. Furthermore, Reed said that “We work really hard to get the right people into the right positions“. And the results show that he’s right.