WhatsApp Relaunches About Feature for Status Updates

WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app, is relaunching its original "About" feature this week, giving users a more prominent way to share brief updates on their status or activities directly within chats and profiles.

The update revives a tool that dates back to WhatsApp's early days in 2009, when the app first allowed people to post short personal notes before emphasizing private messaging. Officials at WhatsApp described the relaunch as an effort to make the feature "more visible, timely, and easier to use." For longtime users, About provided a simple way to indicate what they were doing, but it had faded into obscurity, tucked away in menus with limited visibility. Now, the status appears prominently at the top of one-on-one chats and on individual profiles, allowing contacts to see it at a glance without digging through settings.

Users can craft an About update with a short phrase and an emoji, such as noting they are traveling, busy at work, or attending an event. This could explain delays in responses or spark conversations. Tapping on someone's About in a chat enables a direct reply, streamlining interactions without starting a new thread. By default, updates expire after...