WhatsApp

WhatsApp has become a hive of misinformation related to the novel coronavirus, the COVID-19 disease it causes, and the state of outbreaks around the world. The World Health Organization is combating this fake news by launching its own chatbot called WHO Health Alert to spread accurate, timely information. The chatbot will provide direct information on the latest case numbers, myths related to the disease, and more.

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If you're using WhatsApp for iOS or Android today, you can get an update that allows Dark Mode. This update changes the way that WhatsApp looks on all devices, switching dark tones for light tones, and light tones for dark. It makes better use of your display's power drain - to a tiny, yet significant degree. Dark Mode is a lot kinder to your eyes, too.

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This week, leadership at the European Commission (executive branch of the European Union) sent a staff-wide message pushing the secure messaging app Signal. This end-to-end encrypted messaging app was recommended on an EU internal discussion board for all staff. The message included, in part: "Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging." Why would the EU do this?

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Today WhatsApp announced that "WhatsApp supports more than two billion users around the world." The company suggested that this high water mark was reached today - February 12, 2020, after reaching a similarly major mark in January of 2018. WhatsApp didn't say specifically that they had "monthly users" in this amount, but "supports" this amount as of today. It could be that this 2 billion mark is just total downloads of the app, or amount of users that've sent messages over the last year - but let's explore some other, more solid numbers while we get some confirmation from the WhatsApp crew.

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Today the folks behind the development of the WhatsApp mobile app released a new version with a Dark Theme. This means more than just a color flip is in play - it means we're seeing a whole new UI with color choices based on the users' desire to keep screen brightness as low as possible. Users will need to become part of the Google Play Beta Program, where they'll gain access to version 2.20.13 as of this week.

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Facebook as ditched plans to fill WhatsApp with advertisements, according to a new report, instead choosing to focus on paid features designed for companies. The sources behind the leak claim that Facebook has gone so far as to scrub the code from WhatsApp that would have been used to implement the advertisements. This doesn't, however, mean that Facebook will never bring ads into WhatsApp.

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This week WhatsApp shuts down service - ends connectivity - for a number of older smartphones. This includes some Android phones, a few iOS devices, and all Windows Phone devices. If you're still using a Windows Phone device at this point at the tail end of 2019, there may be no mercy for you in the days to come.

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WhatsApp will stop working for some older devices in early 2020 in one of the biggest updates in the app's history. For affected older versions of operating systems affected, WhatsApp developers suggested the following: "Because we no longer actively develop for these operating systems, some features might stop functioning at any time."

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Facebook's person-tracking camera-display system Portal is getting an update so that users can avoid Facebook. That's right - the Facebook-made Portal, Portal Mini, Portal+ and Portal TV device collection can now be used without a Facebook account. Users can utilize "WhatsApp login" to work with video calls and features like Story Time. Let's talk about why Facebook would allow this to happen.

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WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Facebook, has been updated on Android and iOS with an important new feature: call waiting. The feature is common on traditional and mobile phone systems but is rare for VoIP services like the kind offered by messaging apps. The new feature makes it possible to view and jump to a new call, but there's one big issue with the new capability.

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At this moment and for the foreseeable future, it's a good idea to avoid opening MP4 files in WhatsApp. There's a bug in WhatsApp for both iOS and Android where a malicious person can send a specially-crafted MP4 file to ultimately control a users' phone. This bug was patched, but not all people in the world have said patch right this minute.

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Facebook is launching a new payment service, Facebook Pay, that spans not only the social network itself but Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. While each of those services already supports payments, the company is tying them together so that users will only have to enter details once if they prefer - though there's an upside for Facebook, too.

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