Tag: Whatsapp

How to pay for your friends’ WhatsApp subscription

Post author By Arun
Post date February 26, 2014
2 Comments on How to pay for your friends’ WhatsApp subscription

WhatsApp now has a new feature with which you can buy subscription packages for your friends. I’m not quite sure whether this is a new feature or it has been seen ages.

I’m using an unreleased WhatsApp APK that I pulled off from the WhatsApp website to hide my Last Seen, status and profile photo. And, this APK has this feature.

If the users find these features useful, these features should appear in the markets soon.

Getting back to the topic, purchasing a WhatsApp subscription package for your friends is easy. You can purchase for any contact that you have on your WhatsApp contacts list. You cannot purchase the subscription package for more than one friend at once.

Is this feature useful?

This feature should be useful for those who do not have a credit card that works with Google Wallet or PayPal. You can also use this to gift subscription packages to your dear ones on their special days.

If you plan on changing your number, you can take your account information along with that.

How to purchase for your friends?

Go to More > Settings > Contacts > Pay for a friend in the app.
Choose a friend and make payment for 1, 3 or 5 years package using Google Wallet, PayPal or the payment URL.

Once the payment is made, your friend will be notified about this. Note that if your friend is using Android, BlackBerry or BlackBerry 10, he’ll see the updated expiry date immediately. If your friend is using iPhone, Nokia or Windows phone, he’ll have to restart the device to see the new expiry date.

If you are unable to purchase for your friend at some time, you may try again after some time. Or maybe purchasing for that friend isn’t available at that time.

If you wish to get this feature immediately, instead of waiting for official market rollout, you can download the new APK in the WhatsApp website.

Tags Apps, Mobile, Whatsapp

Tips

New WhatsApp APK now let’s you hide ‘Last seen’, status and photo

Post author By Arun
Post date February 21, 2014
2 Comments on New WhatsApp APK now let’s you hide ‘Last seen’, status and photo

A new APK file is now available on the WhatsApp website that lets you hide your Last seen timestamp, status and profile photo. This new feature is not available officially on the Google Play store yet.

You can either hide these details from everyone, including your contacts and strangers, or choose to let it be visible for everyone. You cannot hide the details from particular contacts.

Hide ‘Last Seen’, status and profile photo

Note : On hiding your Last Seen status, you won’t be able to see your contacts’ Last Seen status.

If you didn’t know, the iOS version of WhatsApp already has this feature and allows the users to hide the Last Seen tag. But, it comes with a limitation. You cannot change the setting every now and then. You will have to wait for one day to toggle the setting again.

Also, the iOS feature doesn’t let you hide your status and profile photo.

Talking about this feature for WhatsApp for other platforms, there are no reports yet. But, if the users find this feature useful, WhatsApp will be bringing this feature to the other devices soon.

Before you download the APK, it is suggested that you take a backup of your existing WhatsApp using MyAppSharer or any other method that you prefer.

Link: Download WhatsApp APK | via Firstpost

Tags android apps, Whatsapp

News

Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 billion

Post author By Aditya Kane
Post date February 20, 2014
3 Comments on Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 billion

Facebook has been rumoured in the past to buy the popular phone messaging app Whatsapp but nothing materialized. Today Facebook announced that it would be acquiring Whatsapp for $16 billion. Let that number sink in a bit. Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars and that was considered overpriced. Whatsapp is possibly worth 16 Instagrams!

Facebook is buying the competition out!

Facebook today is a internet giant but its growth happened on the PC screen. Their ads are far more effective on larger screen and not so much on mobile phones. This is why it bought Instagram whose growth was mobile only. Whatsapp is similar but only a bigger threat to Facebook.

There is a rising trend of younger people preferring WhatsApp and not on Facebook. They are creating group conversations and sharing photos on WhatsApp not Facebook.

Facebook is now shelling out huge amounts not just so they have a great product but also to buy out the competition. It could also be to avoid Google or Apple getting in and buying these products.

Trivia

In 2009 Facebook turned down Brian Acton for a job. He lamented on Twitter that it would have been a great opportunity to work with great people but he was looking for life’s next adventure. He was also rejected by Twitter for a job according to this tweet.

He went on to create Whatsapp and is now selling it for $16 billion to the same companies that did not give him a job.

Source: Facebook Press

Tags Facebook, Whatsapp

Reviews

Telegram messenger – WhatsApp clone with better security options

Post author By Arun
Post date February 3, 2014

Telegram messenger is a new instant messaging app. It is a secure, fast and reliable means for instant messaging and is available for Android and iOS devices for now.

Telegram messenger has been designed to look a lot like WhatsApp, but the former has a couple of brilliant features that are limited in latter.

To begin with, this service claims to be faster than any other instant messaging service. It is fast in delivering the messages and offers read reports with check marks, just like WhatsApp. The app claims to run perfect even with the weakest mobile signals.

Telegram Messenger (1) — WhatsApp clone – Telegram

Similar to WhatsApp, your Telegram messenger account is linked to your mobile number, but there is an option to log out of your account when needed. It is free, without ads, and the developers claim that it will remain free forever.

It even has WhatsApp emoticons!

Interesting Telegram features

Privacy – You can create Secret Chats with your friends. If you start a Secret Chat with your friend, your friend will have to accept that invitation.

Once done, your messages won’t be recorded by the Telegram messenger servers. Also, you have an option to make the messages self-destruct in few seconds to minutes. This is a quality privacy feature that many would love to have.

Click the photo of your friend at the top right in the Secret Chat and you can set the the self-destruct message timing in an option available there.

100 members in a group chat – With Telegram messenger, you can make group chats with as much as 100 friends.

WhatsApp offers 50 members in a group limit.

Unlimited storage – You can send media upto 1 GB in-a-go over Telegram messenger. It is said that the app offers unlimited media storage in a cloud storage. This way, you can access your messages and media from several devices!

You can also send files of any format! This way, you can send MP3, PDF and other files that can’t be send on WhatsApp.

Based on the first impressions, the app looked brilliant to me. It’s WhatsApp with better security features.

Link: Telegram messenger website | Telegram on Google Play | Telegram on App Store

Tags android apps, iOS apps, Telegram messenger, Whatsapp

Tips

How to change your number on WhatsApp

Post author By Arun
Post date December 5, 2013
8 Comments on How to change your number on WhatsApp

Your WhatsApp account has always been linked to your mobile number. But, with the latest update(s) on WhatsApp for all platforms, Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Nokia S40 and BlackBerry 10, you can now change your mobile number – that’s porting your WhatsApp account to another number.

This new option Change number is available inside the Account settings tab – Settings > Account > Change number. The operation is really simple. Just enter your old mobile number and the new mobile number in that page, and WhatsApp will do the rest for you. This will move your account info, settings and groups to your new number.

For those using Nokia S40, go to Options > Settings > Change phone number.

Sadly there isn’t an option for you to change number on Nokia Symbian and Windows Phone yet.

Things to note

Make sure that you have both your old mobile SIM and the new one plugged into different mobile phones. WhatsApp needs your new number to be active on a mobile device at the time of changing numbers.

Why this feature?

Most people always go about jumping from one carrier to the other. It is tiresome to take WhatsApp backups, import to the new mobile phone and then restore, isn’t it?

Also, this feature is makes it easy for premium WhatsApp users to continue their membership hassle-free.

Tags Whatsapp

News

Guess What Facebook is Shopping for this Christmas? It’s Whatsapp

Post author By Aditya Kane
Post date December 3, 2012

It is the last month of the year and Facebook seems to be in the mood for doing some Christmas shopping. The possible first in it’s shopping list could be Whatsapp Messenger.

Whatsapp is a hugely popular text messaging app and it is known to serve upto 1 billion text messages every single day. It works cross-platforms and almost on any smartphone.

Why Whatsapp is perfect for Facebook?

Facebook has over a billion active users. That number has mass but for its numbers, they are hardly raking in massive revenues. Facebook is traditionally strong as a social product accessed from the desktop browser. It has always been perceived as weak on mobile phones.

Facebook has tried to fix by buying Instagram, which is a mobile only photo app that also is social. So what could be next? Whatsapp, seems to be perfect. Most smartphones users across platforms are using Whatsapp for text messaging. Also text messaging is a social activity that no traditional social network has really explored with any kind of success.

The rumours are still floating about this acquisition and it could end up being just that. Even if Facebook does not acquire Whatsapp, it might just have started a bidding war with Google and other interested companies.

Interestingly, this piece of news emerges on the 20th anniversary of the birth of the SMS.

Are you using Whatsapp and will you be happy if it is bought by Facebook? Do drop in your comments and views.

(via TechCrunch)

Tags Facebook, Rumours, Whatsapp