According to a blog post, users will require a second phone number and SIM card, or a phone that supports multi-SIM or eSIM, to set up two accounts. Users can then go to their WhatsApp settings, push the arrow next to their name, and select “Add account.” They can then create a second WhatsApp account on the app using their alternative phone number.

It’s also worth mentioning that users can customize their privacy and notification settings on each account separately. You may, for example, silence notifications on your personal account while allowing them on your work account, or vice versa. Messages sent and received on both accounts will be encrypted end-to-end.

The multi-account capability would allow users to seamlessly switch between business and personal accounts on WhatsApp, eliminating the need to carry two phones. WhatsApp also warned users on its blog not to download mimicking apps and to only use the genuine WhatsApp app from the Google Play Store. The feature on iOS devices has yet to be confirmed by the business.

The app also added support for passkeys on Android earlier this week. Android users can utilise biometric authentication on their phones or their device PIN to log back into their WhatsApp accounts securely.

Zuckerberg stated in a post shared by Meta CEO on his official Facebook page, “If you want to move your WhatsApp chats to a new phone, you can now do it more privately without your chats ever leaving your devices.” Apparently, the use of QR code authentication will now allow users to share their chat history. In order to demonstrate the new method, he also provided a demonstration video.

WhatsApp users could already move their chat history across phones, but the new QR code form of chat transfer makes the process safer. Users can currently update the backup on cloud services or utilise third-party apps to transfer their conversation history.

Users no longer need to exit their apps on one device in order to move data to the other phone thanks to the new procedure. Without any third-party apps or third-party services in the way, the data simply travels between two smartphones and remains secure.

Therefore, users won’t need to make a backup of their data in order to transfer their chat history or media files. Both devices must have location enabled and be physically connected to Wi-Fi in order to transfer data via a QR code. By navigating to Settings > Chats > Chats Transfer > Scan the QR code with the new device, one can transfer chats and media from an old phone.

Where users can use this avatar:

• Users can use this avatar as their WhatsApp profile photo (WhatsApp DP). 
• Also, users can use this avatar in chatting as a chat sticker. 

Feature options to create an avatar on WhatsApp:

Options are-

• color
• outfit
• hairstyle
• facial features

In addition to that, Users also get 36 custom avatar sticker options along with glasses and body shapes. By using these options, Users can create and also edit according to their desired avatar. 

Giving an update on the new feature of WhatsApp, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook account – We are bringing avatars to WhatsApp! You can now use your avatar as a sticker in chat. More styles are coming soon to all of our apps.

Earlier, users were able to hide their “last seen” status, but now WhatsApp is allowing users to hide the online indicator or they can choose whom they want to share the status with.

Secondly, users will have an option to exit group chats without leaving a notification on the chat. Normally, when someone joins or leaves a group chat, the app automatically notifies all other participants. But now, according to latest WhatsApp update, only the group admin will be notified when a user leaves the group.

Thirdly, users can send media files that can only be viewed once by using the “view once” messages option. These still allow taking screenshots of the media file. In order to prevent people from taking screenshots of their photographs or files, WhatsApp has introduced a screenshot blocking feature to its ‘view- once’ messaging.

Zuckerberg said, “We’ll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations”.

Ami Vora, Head of Product at Whatsapp said, “Over the years, we’ve added interlocking layers of protection to help keep the conversations secure, and the new feature is one way, we continue to deliver on our commitment to keeping messages private.”

Also Read: Whatsapp has updated its ‘Delete for Everyone’ message feature timings.

You will have a little over 2 days to delete your messages from your chats after you push send, according to a tweet shared by WhatsApp on Twitter. In 2018, WhatsApp introduced the over-one-hour time limit for deleting chat. Originally, messages could only be deleted for everyone in the chat seven minutes after being sent. The new time limit for “Delete Message for Everyone” is 2 days and 12 hours, according to WABetainfo, a platform that evaluates WhatsApp features before they are made available to the general public.

There is no indication that this capability is exclusive to iOS or Android users. However, it ought to be accessible to users of WhatsApp for iOS and Android.

WhatsApp announced the release of its updated group voice call experience on Friday, which includes the ability to mute other participants. The update also adds the ability for users to message a specific participant while on the call.

To get the option to mute or message a call participant, press and hold the name card of that participant. A pop-up menu with the given options will appear.

The ability to mute someone on call is especially useful if they forget to mute themselves. The participant, on the other hand, can unmute themselves at any time by pressing the Unmute button.

In addition to the above-mentioned group voice call update, WhatsApp also added an indicator to inform participants when more people join large calls.

Also, WhatsApp has updated its Privacy control settings, now users can select who from the contact list they want to show their Profile Photo, About, and Last Seen status.

Whatsapp Update about Emoji reactions in a blog post. Meta owned Whatsapp mentioned that “We’re excited to share that emoji reactions are now available on the latest version of the app. Reactions are fun, fast, and they reduce overload in groups too. We’ll continue improving them by adding an even broader range of expressions in the future.”

 Adding or Removing a WhatsApp Reaction

You can react to messages in your individual and group chats with emoji. You can view all reactions to a message by tapping the reactions emoji below the message.

Note:

• You can only add one reaction per message.
• Reactions to disappearing messages will disappear when the message disappears.
• It’s not possible to hide reactions or reaction counts.
• Recipients might see your reaction before you remove it or if removing it wasn’t successful. You won’t be notified if removing a reaction wasn’t successful.

Add a reaction to a message

When you add a reaction, only the sender of the message being reacted to will receive a notification.

1. Long press on a message.
2. Tap to select one of the displayed emoji.

Change your reaction

You can change your reaction to a different one.

1. Long press on a message you reacted to.
2. Tap a different emoji.

Remove a reaction

You can remove your reaction to a message. A notification won’t be sent to the sender of the message if you remove a reaction.

1. Long press on the message you reacted to or tap the reaction.
2. Tap the emoji you reacted with to remove it.

In addition to this, user can now send files within WhatsApp up to 2GB in size at a time, protected by end-to-end encryption. This is an increase from the previous limit of 100MB. A display counter while uploading or downloading to let you know how long your transfer will take is also available now.

As per users consistent requests, company is slowly rolling out the ability to add up to 512 people to a group.

WhatsApp’s new feature is announced in a tweet with an example of how it works. The company mentioned, Photos and videos in WhatsApp are now even bigger, so no one will be left out of the picture! That’s the perfect reason to smile

Presently, Photos sent on WhatsApp appear a little cropped, and users have to open them to view the full image. With the new update, the full image and video in the chat will be shown.

Twitter has also recently launched this feature with full-view images on the timeline. This feature allows pictures to appear in a bigger size rather than in half, as they do now. As a result, the picture you tweeted would appear exactly as it does in the tweet composer.

Business catalogs on WhatsApp allowed people to quickly see what’s available and helped them to organize their chats around particular items. With carts, people can now browse a catalog, select multiple products, and send the order as one message to the business. This will help businesses to keep track of order inquiries in an efficient and simple way,  they can also manage requests from customers and close sales.

How to place an order using the cart

Adding products to cart

1. Open WhatsApp.
2. Go to your chat or business profile of the business you’d like to order from.
3. Tap on the shopping button icon listed next to their name to access their catalog.
4. Once the catalog opens, browse through the products you’d like to order.
5. Tap on the product you like.
6. Tap ADD TO CART on a product if you’d like to order.

Editing your cart

1. Tap VIEW CART to see all the products added to your cart.
2. Tap ADD MORE if you wish to navigate back to the catalog to continue adding more products.
3. You can also edit quantity for each product added to your cart.

Placing an order

1. Once you’ve successfully updated your cart, you can send it to the seller as a WhatsApp message.
2. Once sent, you will be able to see the details of your order by tapping on the VIEW CART button in your chat window with the seller.

This new feature of WhatsApp payment is designed in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). To send money on WhatsApp, a user must have a bank account, debit card in India, and UPI supported app. WhatsApp payment option has a strong set of security and privacy principles like any other feature of WhatsApp. The payment over WhatsApp includes entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment. WhatsApp payment option is available on the latest version of the iPhone and android app.

https://blog.whatsapp.com/send-payments-in-india-with-whatsapp