WhatsApp Download

Are you sure that you are using an updated version of WhatsApp on your device? Because it is quite possible that you are not aware that you are using an old one. In fact during the last few months this popular instant messaging app is experiencing many updates and improvements, and it could be difficult to keep track of all the changes.

This applies especially if you use WhatsApp on Android devices.  As you know, you can install this beloved app also on other platforms like, for example, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone, and all of them are constantly updated by WhatsApp developers. But the one who usually changes faster is the Android version, which is usually also the first one to bring new features.

Just a couple of weeks ago we have seen the release of a new beta introducing several updates (among them the one regarding the backup of the videos) and today here we are, already talking about a new beta version,  this time 2.12.292, which mainly brings bug fixes. So it seems that this time there are no new features for the joy of WhatsApp users, but they will probably arrive soon. But what changes exactly? 73 files has been modified, and also the APK file has seen a little improvement with an increase of 9KB.

At this point, let’s see how you can install beta 2.12.292 on your Android device. As usual, you can download the APK installation file from whatsapp.com/android. When you decide to install this new beta on your smartphone, pay attention to uninstall first the WhatsApp application you are currently using and, going to Settings > Applications, that you activate the “Unknown Sources”. After that, you have to go back to the folder where you’ve saved this last APK file. From here you simply have to tap on it to have the beta 2.12.292 installed on your device.

Good news for all those people who access WhatsApp via their PC (more than 200 million!). The web client of the popular instant messaging service, WhatsApp Web, which works with both iOS and Android devices, has introduced some interesting updates.

One of these, perhaps the most useful, allows you to receive notifications on your desktop. How? Thanks to the Chrome notification system and a free extension. How can you use this function? The procedure is quite simple and quick, really a piece of cake. As soon as you synchronize WhatsApp chats on the web, you will be asked if you want to enable desktop notifications using Chrome features. Easy, isn’t it?

And if you change your mind and don’t want to receive desktop notifications anymore? Fortunately WhatsApp Web developers have considered also this option. In fact you can change this setting at any time, or even disable it just temporarily. All you have to do is to open the app and go to Menu>Notifications. And that’s not all, other useful features are now available.

Thanks to WAToolkit (a free extension) you have the possibility to enlarge the text frame of your chat on WhatsApp Web. In addition, it will also be possible to activate notifications in the background so as to receive alerts even when WhatsApp and Chrome are not running. At this point, once you have installed WAToolkit, you will have a new icon on your browser’s toolbar, and, when you click on it, it  will display your new messages. You will find a new icon also on WhatsApp Web, which will allow you to change the extension options.

So, even after the recent security problems (luckily solved), WhatsApp Web is still “alive and kicking” and ready more than ever to face the fierce competition of the other instant messaging services.

A new, free tool is arrived for WhatsApp users. It is called StealthApp, and it works on Android devices. But what is exactly StealthApp? It is a new tool essentially created to help you manage WhatsApp notifications (and we all know how difficult and time-consuming this can be). In addition it actually also helps protecting your privacy.

In fact through StealthApp you can read your messages without sending the famous (and sometimes annoying) double blue check marks. Are you curious to know how can it happen? Very, very simple: using StealthApp you can access to your messages without opening the official WhatsApp app. Once you have installed StealthApp, you will find inside it all the conversations that took place from the time of its installation.

So this seems to be a very nice instant messaging service, which we think will be greatly appreciated by a lot of people concerned about their privacy. In fact with StealthApp you will be practically invisible. No more check mark and no more “last seen”.

But … as always, nothing is perfect, and StealthApp is no exception. There is in fact a little flaw in this otherwise useful app. The problem emerges when you need to access multimedia contents. In fact, If you want to access your voice messages, photos or videos, you can only do that using WhatsApp (the real one). Furthermore, StealthApp is still in a rather experimental stage, and so at the moment the app could create some problems to manage notifications.

But don’t worry, you are not going to waste your money. In fact, for this reason, the developer (clearly a honest one) has released a free version of this very interesting and original application, enabling who wants to use StealthApp to try it before purchasing (furthermore, the cost on the Play Store is absolutely reasonable: only 0,99 Euro).

Once again WhatsApp users risk to see their favourite instant messaging app banned in the UK. But why? Because it seems that encrypted services like iMessage and WhatsApp could be used by terrorists. That’s what Mr Andrew Parker (MI5 boss) believes, and therefore for this reason he strongly recommends to stop those services.

It seems that the UK is a terrorist target, and that the danger of attacks is the highest in 30 years. That’s what Mr Parker stated in an interview with BBC: “Encryption is creating a situation where law enforcement agencies and security agencies can no longer obtain under proper legal warrant the contents of communications between people they have reason to believe are terrorists. They are using secure apps and internet communication to try to broadcast their message and incite and direct terrorism amongst people who live here who are prepared to listen to their message.”

But Mr Parker is not the only one feeling this way. It seems he has an ally in David Cameron, who shares the same convinction and says that encrypted messaging could be easily used with threatening intentions. So, will we assist to the stop of WhatsApp and iMessage in the UK? It’s hard to say. Obviously, for now tech companies are reluctant to cooperate with the UK government and it seems that  they are not completely wrong. In fact, according to experts, removing encryption could further weaken users’ security, easing the access to users messages to terrorists.

So, what will happen now? There is a good chance that a new controversial law called “Snoopers charter” will be applied. If applied, internet service providers and mobile phone companies should keep records of each user’s internet browsing and social media activity, voice calls, email correspondence and mobile phone messaging services, and should store the records for one year. If companies such as WhatsApp and iMessage decide not to follow the new rules, they may be banned in the UK.

WhatsApp developers keep on working on the backup system (which is not exactly a strong point of the app) and now, with the latest beta 2.12.285 for Android smartphones, some new features have been introduced regarding the backup of the videos.

Along with some usual bug fixes and improvements, this new beta introduces the option to exclude videos from the backup, even on Google Drive. Obviously the objective of this new function is to save memory and band, giving the opportunity to create space. This feature may be particularly useful for backup cloud, since the videos often have a size greater than that of other media shared on WhatsApp. Unfortunately even this latest update has not yet introduced the ability to set the time of automatic backup, and many users are  looking forward to this important option.

If you wish to download the last beta of WhatsApp, you can find it as usual on the official website of WhatsApp. Being a beta, you can’t find it on the Google Play Store, where it will arrive once the stable version will be released, so you have to install it manually on your device. The most noticeable changes of  this new beta are in its APK, where 339 files were modified. In addition there are also 6 new files distributed among 4 distinct directories.

Again, WhatsApp decided to add a substantial improvement first on Android devices which support this popular instant messaging app. And it doesn’t surprise us, considering the successful cooperation between Android (which is the mobile operating system more used in the world) and WhatsApp. If you give a look to recent statistics, you’ll discover that 73% of WhatsApp users access the app through Android.

With its 900 million active monthly users, and 64 billion messages sent every day, WhatsApp is certainly making a difference in the world of instant messaging, and we believe that WhatsApp still has many surprises in store for its users.