5 things WhatsApp should fix and fix them NOW
WhatsApp is great. We can't say that enough. But it is also incredibly simple, something that actually adds to its appeal most of the time. But there are occasions when this simplicity actually ends up frustrating users. The options, the features, are so simple that they also end up being nuisance because you can't change them.
Two or three years ago when WhatsApp didn't have 1 billion users, this would have been fine. But now, when it is such a crucial communication tool, the lack of some options in WhatsApp is hurting users. Here is what we feel the messaging app should fix and fix soon.
Anyone can add you to a group
WhatsApp is remarkable in the way it allows forming of groups. Whether you want or not, you can end up being a member of a group because on WhatsApp anyone can add you to a group once they have your number. So, even though you may be a doctor, one morning you may find yourself added to the group of petty thieves planning their next heist just because someone wrongly entered a number. Yes, you can quickly exit the group. But that is not the point. Ideally, no one should be able to add you to a group without your permission. But somehow, for some reason, WhatsApp's engineering team can't comprehend this simple concept of privacy and permissions.
Ideally, no one should be able to add you to a group without your permission
All the funny photos in your phone
WhatsApp stores all photos, videos etc that users share on the receiver's phone. This clogs up the internal storage in phones and that is a particularly bad problem if you use a phone with less than 16GB internal storage. Ideally, the photos and videos etc that users are sharing should be stored in WhatsApp servers and should be delivered to a user's phone only if he or she decides to download them. If that is not possible, WhatsApp can at least make the download of photos and videos optional for the groups, where every morning everyone shares ridiculously colourful -- and totally pointless -- good morning images and gif.
Can't use it on spare phone
Imagine you are travelling in some remote location and to deal with battery woes are using two phones. But guess what? You can use WhatsApp on only one phone. If that phone dies, you are out of luck. You can't use WhatsApp on your other working phone and if you do that it will be de-activated on the other phone. It is true that WhatsApp has some genuine reasons to force this contraption on users. But we feel that it is time WhatsApp listens to users and fixes this. The app should be tied to a phone number and not to a device.
Snooze
In this hyper-active world we all wish for some moments of peace. Unfortunately, something like that doesn't exist in WhatsApp's world. You just can't get away from the messages. Or maybe you are in a meeting and don't want WhatsApp messages. It is same with emails, but emails are less personal, less pervasive. Unlike email, WhatsApp demands and gets our attention. Now, there are ways to make WhatsApp pause. But that is a hack, and that too only available to Android users. Ideally, we will like to see something like a snooze built into WhatsApp.
Privacy
In the last few years, WhatsApp has improved the privacy features it offers. But there is more it needs to do. Specifically, it needs an invisible mode similarly to what chat in Gmail offers. Currently, when you are online, it shows users that you are online, even if you have set the "last seen" as hidden. This is something WhatsApp should fix. It should give users an option to completely go invisible because there are moments when you just want to avoid some people.
Also Read: Want some privacy? Go invisible on WhatsApp
No comments:
Post a Comment