WhatsApp has released a new update, version 2.25.25.11, for Android beta. It introduces a redesigned interface for managing status privacy. The new feature allows users to quickly change their status privacy settings directly from the drawing editor screen before posting. The feature is now more streamlined to use, as it uses audience chips at the bottom of the screen to pick your audience quickly. It’s rolling out to select beta testers and will become more widely available in the coming weeks.
This new feature builds on a previous development that allowed users to share status updates with a smaller, curated group of close friends. This new interface is better than the old one, which required you to navigate to a separate menu.
The new design is a preview of how audience selection will work for the upcoming close friends feature. The new chips hint that WhatsApp wants to integrate several layers of privacy settings into a single location. A future update could add a third chip dedicated to close friends once the feature is ready.
The new interface update introduces audience chips that resemble filters found in the Chats tab. Tapping on them will allow users to switch between My Contacts and Only Share With. A toast notification appears after selection, showing the number of people who will receive the update or the number of excluded contacts. This gives more flexibility for managing visibility for different types of updates.
The Only Share With option delivers your update to a specific, predefined list of contacts, which is set in the privacy settings, while the My Contacts option respects any previously excluded contacts, ensuring existing privacy configurations are maintained.
Overall, users can expect to save time when this feature arrives by removing the need to navigate deep into the app settings to adjust privacy options. The feature is currently available to some beta testers and will be rolling out to more users in the coming week, and then we can expect some sort of public launch.
Source and image via WABetaInfo