Whatsapp could offer a service similar to Messenger for Business

Whatsapp could offer a service similar to Messenger for BusinessThe extraordinary success of WhatsApp seems unstoppable. In fact, this multi-platform messaging service has nearly reached one billion users, and Facebook (its official owner, who last year bought the app for nearly 22 billion dollars) doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to gain more from the service by opening it to businesses.

During the last F8 Conference we have seen how Facebook has transformed the Messenger platform into a service increasingly rich of features. Between them, surely stands out Messenger for Business, a well-known dedicated service that allows businesses to communicate with their customers in a more simple and effective way, offering assistance and customer care through the Messenger chat.

According to what David Wehner (the CFO of Facebook) declared to Bloomberg, this functionality could be extended to Whatsapp, although, in this case, it would be a long-term project and not something that will be made available immediately. Wehner, at the JPMorgan Technology Conference held in Boston, has specifically stated that: “We think that enabling that [business to consumer] messaging has good business potential for us. As we learn those things, I think there’s going to be opportunities to bring some of those things to WhatsApp, but that’s more longer-term than the near-term.

At the moment Facebook has not added further comments or details to Wehner statement, but it is clear that WhatsApp could become in the future a very important source of income for the Californian company owned by Mark Zuckerberg, and approaching the business sector could be a winning choice.

However, the fact that some companies already use WhatsApp for their business is not new. In fact, more and more companies offer their customers the possibility to have a real-time support, directly from their smartphones.

How to login to WhatsApp from pc

How to login to WhatsApp from pcYou are very excited because you have discovered that now you can use WhatsApp also from your computer. So you look for the link to download the program but can not find it. Why? It’s true that you can use WhatsApp from the pc, but it is not an application. In fact it is a web service accessible from browsers, precisely from Chrome, Firefox and Opera (Safari and Internet Explorer for the moment are not supported).

Another important thing to note is that the site only works when WhatsApp is running on your smartphone and only if the phone is connected to the Internet. It is also necessary to remember that the service is not yet available for iPhone users (apparently for the restrictions imposed by Apple in iOS) while on Android, Windows Phone and all other software platforms there are not problems. So, to install WhatsApp on your PC simply follow these steps.

Open WhatsApp Web using Chrome, Firefox or Opera; starts the application of WhatsApp on your phone, press the menu button (the icon with the three dots at the top right) and select the voice WhatsApp Web. Subsequently, tap the OK button. At this point a QR Reader will pop up on your phone; point this at your PC screen in order to read the code and you are automatically logged into WhatsApp on the web. Once logged in, using WhatsApp on your PC is really, really easy.

The service is the perfect copy of the user interface application for smartphones and automatically synchronizes all contents with the latter: discussions, contacts etc. You can even activate notifications and view them directly on the desktop of your computer: just click on Activate desktop notifications, which is located in the upper left, and allow the browser to display alerts. At this point there is not much left to explain.

In the left sidebar you can find the list of recent chats and buttons to start a new conversation and access the settings of the service (the three dots). By clicking on a contact name or on the title of a chat, you can continue the discussion just like on smartphone by inserting, if necessary, also emoticons (smiley icon in the lower left) and image attachment (the paper clip icon in top right). You can even customize your status by clicking on your picture in the top left corner and entering the status that you want to show to your friends choosing from the menu on the left sidebar.

If you use an Android smartphone unlocked by the root procedure, then you can control the computer with AirDroid WhatsApp. This is a free application that allows you to manage messages, contacts, photos and exchange files between Android devices and computers (Windows and Mac) wirelessly. Among its functions there is also the remote control of smartphones and tablet computers, with which you can use WhatsApp and receive notifications comfortably seated at your PC. If you want to download AirDroid on yuor PC, you can find all the instrusctions on the website of the software.

There are also other softwares that allow you to run applications for Android directly on your computer, for example BlueStacks Android Player or x86, but because of the limitations of WhatsApp they can not be used while maintaining active access to the service also on your smartphone: you should repeat continuously the activation process of your account, sometimes on the computer, sometimes on the phone.

So, for the moment, WhatsApp Web seems to be the best solution.

WhatsApp vs Telegram: who will win?

WhatsApp vs TelegramWe were convinced that WhatsApp had not rivals, but we were wrong. In fact Telegram (a multi-platform messaging app), is spreading rapidly and probably is now the most serious rival of Whatsapp. The numbers, just updated, are incredible: 62 million monthly active users, 12 million of which are new users who joined the app in the last 4 months. In December 2014 there were 145,000 new users per day, now we talk about 220,000.

Whatsapp, with its 800 million monthly users, is obviously still the leader. But it seems that between the two apps there are only small differences. To use WhatsApp you have to pay and with Telegram, for now, you can not make voice calls. Then, of course, there is the privacy issue. But let’s compare together these two important apps.

Cost: to use Whatsapp you have pay. Little, almost nothing, but you must use your credit card. When you download it for the first time, you can use it for free for 12 months, then there is the subscription fee: 0.69p for the Android versions, 0.65p for iPhone. But of course there are also multi-year subscriptions which are more ‘profitable’, you can find all the information on the official website of the app. Telegram is completely free.

Characteristics: graphically there is not much difference, it could be said that Telegram is the blue version of WhatsApp. Only the settings are organized differently, but to login it is always necessary your phone number.

Privacy and safety: encoding is different. Telegram is based on the concept of end-to-end, a typology which makes conversations particularly safe, in terms of privacy and with regard to hackers: messages are saved directly on your smartphone and on a server. Not only that: there is a function (you can find it in the Settings) which allows you to set a timer to delete automtically all data of a conversation when the time expires. With WhatsApp it is a completely different story: all data are saved on an external server of the Californian company, obviously raising the danger of theft and espionage.

Sharing files: all users of WhatsApp and Telegram can share their media files with their contacts. But with WhatsApp there is a limit of size (16MB), where with Telegram there is no limit at all. And that’s because Telegram is an app based on cloud.

Usability: Both WhatsApp and Telegram use your telephone number as an ID. Telegram is also available for desktop (PC and Mac) as well as smartphones and tablets. Whatsapp is only a mobile service, except for the controversial WhatsApp Web. In other words: with Telegram you simply have to download the app, enter your number and then enter the new code wich you will receive on the phone with that number. As a result you will have two platforms syncronized to send and receive messages. You can use this method even if you have a smartphone, by entering a number to which of course you have access. With Whatsapp it is impossible, because it is only applicable on one device at a time.

Voice Calling and messages: You don’t have voice calling with Telegram, but instead you have voice messages. WhatsApp, on the other hand, has recently installed a system that allows voice calls via the VoIP system.

How to customize WhatsApp on your smartphone

How to customize WhatsApp on your smartphoneYou were tired of spending money on SMS and were looking for a different way to send text messages without being obliged to change your telephone operator. So your friends suggested to install WhatsApp. Despite your relationship with smartphones is not really idyllic, you followed their advice and now you are very happy to use this famous app.

It was not very difficult to learn to use the basic functions of WhatsApp, and now you would like to expand your knowledge learning, for example, how to customize the app on your phone. For example, you would like to change the size of the font, or the background of chat conversations as well as some other details, but you do not know how to do it. Don’t worry, it’s quite simple. Following this guide you will discover that customizing WhatsApp is much easier than you think. Just use the settings of the app and you’re done.

First of all, let’s start seeing how to customize WhatsApp changing the background image of the conversations. If you want to change the background theme of WhatsApp with a personal photo, or with an image downloaded from the Internet or with one of the wallpaper included in the application, you just have to open the settings. If you are an iPhone user, you simply have to press Settings (located on the bottom right). If  you use Android, you have to press the menu button (the icon with the three dots at the top right) and then touch Settings from the box that appears.

Now, go to Chat Settings and click on the menu relating to the background. At this point you can choose if you prefer to change the default background with a picture from your phone (option photos on iPhone, Documents option on Android). If you want  you can also choose something from the Library backgrounds of WhatsApp. In the latter case, the iPhone will have a package ready to use as wallpaper. On Android you’ll be asked to download a package of images from the Internet.

Whatever your decision, select the image that you like the most and the changes will be immediately displayed. If you are not convinced of your choice, you can always reconsider it and restore the default background provided by WhatsApp simply selecting the Restore background button on the iPhone, or clicking on the Default button in the Android version of the app (still in the selection screen of the wallpaper).

WhatsApp for Windows Phone: the latest update adds MP3

WhatsApp for Windows Phone the latest update adds MP3Exciting new features have been added on WhatsApp Beta 2:12:20 for Windows Phone. The development of WhatsApp’s client for Windows Phone smartphones continues, expanding the feature set which is now available for users who are trying the beta application. Let’s see them together.

As everyone knows, WhatsApp Messenger is a multi-platform mobile messaging app that allows you to exchange messages with your contacts without having to pay (as with SMS). WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. As WhatsApp Messenger uses the same Internet data plan used for email and web browsing, there are not additional costs to send messages and keep in touch with your friends. In addition to basic messaging, WhatsApp users can create groups, share unlimited images, video and audio multimedia messages.

Now it seems that, with the beta version 2.12.20, WhatsApp has finally implemented the possibility to share MP3 files also on the Windows Phone platform. In fact WhatsApp beta (v. 2.12.20) makes it possible to send the MP3 files stored on your smartphone using a dedicated icon. But that’s not all: the user, when selecting the proper icon to send files, will have two brand new options: Audio and Album.

The Audio option will open a file selector that allows you to browse your music library, allowing you to send one or more MP3 files. Once shared, the files can be removed or forwarded a second time. But unfortunately, at least for the moment, you can not save them. As for the Album option, this will allow you to share video and photos with your contacts. When you choose this option, you can select a video or a picture and send it to your friends – even photos taken with the Lumia Camera v5 app.

But there are also other changes. For example, instead of the characteristic green, WhatsApp now has the same color theme you have on your smartphone. In addition, you can select more than one chat and delete or archive them. And, quite important, it is now available the option to disable the read receipt.

That said, we are still waiting for voice calls on WhatsApp for Windows Phone, already introduced on iOS and Android. It is important to point out that the possibility of sharing can also be used with other applications and websites, such as MSN News, and OptiMagazine. At the moment we do not know when the new features of the beta version will be transposed in the stable release, which received the latest update at the beginning of April.

WhatsApp: how to remove the Timestamp

whatsapp timestampWhatsApp is the instant messaging application most used in the world, and it is now more important and more used than sms. WhatsApp provides, besides others, a useful function that indicates if one of your contacts is currently online or not. Furthermore, it can show you when was the list time that  someone was online. This option is called “Last seen”.

However, this feature (called also Timestamp) has also been widely criticized. In fact, people usually do not like that everyone can see when they were “last seen”. Maybe you can not reply immediately to any message, while others expect you to do it because they know that you have read it, based on the “last seen”. In fact, WhatsApp Last Seen, through the timestamp, shows exactly when was the last time that someone closed the App.

You do not like that other people can see when you’ve been online for the last time? Don’t worry, there is a solution. It is very easy to enable or disable the “last seen” feature of WhatsApp. In addition, you can decide if anyone, only your contacts, or everyone can see your “last seen”. Android users have the option “Disable Last Seen”. So, if you are one of them, you can follow these simple steps to hide/disable your “last seen” on WhatsApp. But first of all make sure that you are using the latest version of WhatsApp. Older versions of the Android app are not able to change these settings.

Step 1: open WhatsApp and go to Settings. Step 2: Open the Settings menu by tapping the Menu button in the upper-right corner and then tap Settings. Step 3: now open the Account menu (tap “Account” in the Settings menu to open it). Step 4: from the Account menu, click the Privacy options to open the Privacy menu. Now you can change your Last Seen settings. Step 5: from the Privacy menu, tap “Last Seen” to set who can see your Last Seen timestamp.

You can choose three kind of settings: “Everyone”, “My contacts”, or “Nobody”. If you want to completely block your timestamp, obviously choose Nobody. If you decide to set it to “My contacts“, only people on your contacts list will be able to see when you were last online.

Remember: a blocked user is not able to see the date and time of your last access to the application. Furthermore, you can not disable the timestamp that is automatically inserted into messages that you send.

WhatsApp for Android: Material Design is now available on Play Store

material designNew surprises from WhatsApp. All the users of this famous app will be happy to know that Material Design finally arrives in the stable version of WhatsApp. In fact, the popular app released a new update, but not, as you may think, the version 3.0. Instead WhatsApp switches to version 2.12.74, bringing officially Material Design, the new interface, on Play Store.

Until now it was possible to use the latest interface only installing manually the APK available on the official website of WhatsApp, which was actually a public beta. So, this latest update brings WhatsApp Material Design out of the beta phase. However, it is still missing the backup function via Drive, already disappeared from some beta, thus making us think that, probably, it has been released as a test in one of the previous versions.

It can happen that this new update is not yet available for your client, since updates occur gradually. In this case, it may be necessary to wait and be patient a few more days. It is a staged rollout, so if you do not receive it immediately don’t worry, this is normal. But if you do not want to wait any longer, you can download the latest APK from this link  since it is not yet available on the official website.

In other words, a real major release, albeit with a significant lack, which had raised Android users hopes to store their data on the storage service from Google. Feature postponed, we hope, in the coming updates, where we expect to see this feature introduced by default.

WhatsApp finally decided to introduce Material Design after thousands of requests and, compared to other applications, with a discrete delay. Material Design was first introduced by Google with Android 5.0 Lollipop toward the end of last year, and made 100% official with the release of Nexus and Nexus 9 6. So, with this latest update, also the most popular instant messaging client used in the world is finally “up to date”.