WhatsApp's new update, as per WABI, brings a new design for contact information. The new version also has encrypted backups rolling out to a wider audience.
Let's deal with the design changes first. WhatsApp decided to take the very same interface change that they implemented for Business profiles, and is now attempting to do the same for profiles as a whole on the platform. As it currently stands, opening up a contact's information will lead to the person's profile photo taking up a large part of the upper screen, follow by which there will be certain options for editing conversations and notifications for the person at hand. Media links will follow soon after, and then we'll encounter the individual's status. These are more or less the basic building blocks of a person's WhatsApp information and online presence.
This new interface is going the simplification way of things, and toning everything down by a bit. Taking inspiration from Business accounts, the profile photo will only take up a central, circular location, followed by their status, media links and that's essentially it. The overall appearance is much more toned down, with the limiting of one's profile photo playing a very big part in why the final product looks so much simpler. However, this is no mere coincidence. Oversimplification and basic design sensibilities are rather common in the market nowadays. Pointing to nearly any major company in the world, tech related or otherwise, will reveal a logo that used to be very intricately designed and is now reminiscent of vector stock images. At any rate, this is an aesthetic update rather than a functional one.
The next update we're going to discuss is very definitively a functional one. WhatsApp's praise of it's own end to end encrypted conversations is almost played on a constant loop, so users never forget about one of the app's best features. At any rate, the backup must be manually activated and is not an automatic feature. Upon trying to activate the feature, users will be asked to create a password as well, via which they will be able to access the data later on. It should be mentioned that data will still be stored onto Google Drive or the Cloud. However, it will be encrypted this time around, and therefore inaccessible unless a user remembers the key.
Read next: WhatsApp Is Developing A New Profile Photo Feature For Custom Privacy Settings
Let's deal with the design changes first. WhatsApp decided to take the very same interface change that they implemented for Business profiles, and is now attempting to do the same for profiles as a whole on the platform. As it currently stands, opening up a contact's information will lead to the person's profile photo taking up a large part of the upper screen, follow by which there will be certain options for editing conversations and notifications for the person at hand. Media links will follow soon after, and then we'll encounter the individual's status. These are more or less the basic building blocks of a person's WhatsApp information and online presence.
This new interface is going the simplification way of things, and toning everything down by a bit. Taking inspiration from Business accounts, the profile photo will only take up a central, circular location, followed by their status, media links and that's essentially it. The overall appearance is much more toned down, with the limiting of one's profile photo playing a very big part in why the final product looks so much simpler. However, this is no mere coincidence. Oversimplification and basic design sensibilities are rather common in the market nowadays. Pointing to nearly any major company in the world, tech related or otherwise, will reveal a logo that used to be very intricately designed and is now reminiscent of vector stock images. At any rate, this is an aesthetic update rather than a functional one.
The next update we're going to discuss is very definitively a functional one. WhatsApp's praise of it's own end to end encrypted conversations is almost played on a constant loop, so users never forget about one of the app's best features. At any rate, the backup must be manually activated and is not an automatic feature. Upon trying to activate the feature, users will be asked to create a password as well, via which they will be able to access the data later on. It should be mentioned that data will still be stored onto Google Drive or the Cloud. However, it will be encrypted this time around, and therefore inaccessible unless a user remembers the key.
Read next: WhatsApp Is Developing A New Profile Photo Feature For Custom Privacy Settings