Five useful features WhatsApp needs right now

WhatsApp is by far one the most popular messaging apps in the world and it’s filled to the brim with features that are loved by its 1.5 billion active users. While the Facebook-owned messaging platform has launched a range of features, it is trailing its rivals such as Telegram where at least certain features go. These are the five features WhatsApp desperately needs to add to enhance its user experience.

Dark Mode: WhatsApp has been long rumoured to introduce Dark Mode for its app; however, the world is still waiting for it to arrive. According to reports, this feature has been under development for a really long time now and WhatsApp may launch it in the next few months. Apart from being aesthetically friendly, the Dark Mode for WhatsApp will help its users at night.

Disappearing messages: Apps like Snapchat had made a name for themselves by offering ephemeral messaging and WhatsApp needs to bring in this feature and fast. With this feature, sent messages can be easily viewed by the recipient after which it will delete automatically after it has been seen. Instagram has also launched this feature so it could be only a matter of time before it comes to WhatsApp as well.

Privacy: This is by far the most important item on our list and WhatsApp has a big problem with its registration process. During this process, those signing up to WhatsApp need to provide their contact number which can be seen by anyone added in the contact list. The worst part is that there is no way to hide your mobile number on WhatsApp as it requires you to have a valid number for you to register.

Censorship: Over the last couple of years, WhatsApp has become quite synonymous with fake news as it is for its messaging service; especially in a country like India. The app has been constantly updating with features to keep it above the competition; however, it needs to do more in the way of censorship. This service has been a tool for spreading fake news and inciting violence. It has also become a platform for hate speech and the government has also asked WhatsApp to curb these problematic messages. Even though this is pretty rampant, WhatsApp needs to do more to trace and kill off these extremist messages from circulating.

File transfer limit: WhatsApp has a paltry 100MB file transfer limit. When WhatsApp announced that they have increased the transfer limit from 16MB to 100MB, they were mocked on social media. While Telegram has a transfer limit cap at 1.5GB, WhatsApp seriously needs to add more in order to compete on all fronts.