WhatsApp will Bring Back the Old Text Statuses as “Taglines” [Report]

WhatsApp recently updated its messaging application across all platforms and replaced the legacy text statuses with the Snapchat-inspired stories feature. While most users still haven’t settled with the drastic change, a new leak has already popped up which suggests that the Facebook-owned company will be bringing those plain text statuses back in a future release.

Twitter user, WABetaInfo, who has a positive history in WhatsApp news, has shared a screenshot that shows the app will be updated with a new feature called “Taglines”. This will essentially be a rebrand of the old status with no additional alterations whatsoever. Like before, you will be able to add a permanent message under your profile using merely text or emoji. “Taglines” were first spotted on the beta version, 2.17.6.21 on iOS, and 2.17.82, on Windows Phone. Obviously, it is hidden currently, and hence, you won’t be able to access it despite being the beta channel. Although, this won’t be replacing Stories (it’s called Status on WhatsApp) at all, and both the features as it should have been originally, will work concurrently.

WhatsApp has been testing new features back and forth since the past few weeks including the ability to revoke, edit and delete already sent messages. As always, there’s a possibility that these additions won’t ever make it to the official releases. The new WhatsApp story feature was in testing for a couple of months and was first reported sometime in November. WhatsApp Stories are basically, ephemeral posts which disappear after 24 hours and allow users to share images, GIFs, or even videos with their contacts.

Also Read: Dear Facebook, Please Stop Ruining WhatsApp

The new Tagline update is bound to confuse a lot of users, and we too, aren’t sure where exactly WhatsApp is headed with this path. It will be interesting to see how the Facebook-owned messaging giant will set itself apart in 2017.