WhatsApp is a full-blown communications platform that doesn’t hide the influence parent company Meta has had on its functions and features. As one of thebest messaging apps around, Meta’s way forward with WhatsApp has been the gradual inclusion of features from sister apps like Instagram and Messenger. We saw that when status updates launched a few years ago. The app’s developers seem to be working on a notification system for likes you receive for posted status updates.
10 years of WhatsApp under Meta ownership: Feels like one long day
We’ve seen loads of copy-pasting over the years
In the current stable version, WhatsApp allows reacting to status updates using one of the eight suggested emoji, unless you choose to reply to the person with a different emoji using the keyboard UI. However, earlier this month, app sleuths reported sighting anInstagram-style one-tap like buttonto quickly react to status updates from your contacts. Although the feature hasn’t even reached the beta testing phase yet, a new report fromWABetaInforeveals the app could also notify users when their contacts like a posted update.
Notifications for likes, because why not
In a new screenshot from theNotificationsettings section in WhatsApp version 2.24.9.29, WABetaInfo spotted a new toggle switch labeledLike reactions. Located under the Status subsection, enabling this toggle should send you push notifications every time one of your contacts uses the one-tap like reaction on your status updates.
In theory, we suspect the system will resemble liking someone’s Instagram story, which sends them a DM with a heart emoji appended to the update. While this would make it easy to react to status updates from your contacts, there’s a strong chance you’ll be inundated with notifications if you switch on the toggle after posting a huge photo dump visible to hundreds of contacts.
That said, the like button for WhatsApp status updates, and the new notifications toggle for it are both currently in development, and there’s no telling when the feature might roll out. If anything, the settings toggle is just reaffirmation that Meta hasn’t given up on the idea entirely.
