It has been years of using WhatsApp that looks, feels and behaves largely the same. That was fine for the most part, but the more aggressive instant messaging requirements, the work from home needs, sharing files and media as well as the inevitable and extremely annoying communication overload simply point towards a growing need for WhatsApp to undergo what can only be best described as a significant overhaul. WhatsApp has confirmed that multi-device support and an app for the Apple iPad is on the way in the coming weeks, some of which should help, but there is a lot that still needs a new coat of paint. At last count, WhatsApp remains by far and away the most popular instant messaging app in the world, even after the spike in popularity that rivals Signal and Telegram clocked at the turn of the year. But a lot of functionality and features remain undercooked or don’t offer the sort of controls or privacy options that one would expect for an app that is supposed to work as we want it. We have taken the liberty to put together a wishlist of some of the features that we feel WhatsApp needs soon enough, as it embeds itself in our communication routines even more than before.
Chat Management: Serious Need To Sort The Clutter
Communication overload is best experienced on WhatsApp. The world thinks it is okay to message you about anything and everything. Professional messaging requirements that often include hyperactive Groups, catching up with friends and strangers or businesses sending uninvited messages (another word is spam) to buy something you may or may not need. Serious need to have separate tabs for one-to-one chats and groups, for instance. If I don’t want all chats and groups crammed into the one window as it is now, I should really have that option. Often, active groups keep pinging with new messages, pushing down more important one-to-one chats that you may need to address at some point. And to go further, some inspiration can be taken from the Apple iMessage which has the built-in filtering option that separates messages from unknown senders under another tab. Message clutter handling is something WhatsApp really needs to look at, and urgently so. The saving grace for the time being is that it is expected WhatsApp would give Archived chats a bit more peace in life and leave them away from the hustle and bustle of your WhatsApp chats, if that is what you desire.
WhatsApp Calls: Notifications Have No Controls Available
WhatsApp Calls were introduced with much fanfare, and it has been a while since, but the feature still remains something that’s bolted on. You get no controls to turn the call notifications on or off, limit to certain contacts or even silence WhatsApp incoming calls specifically for a while. If you happen to have unknown callers or contacts who have no sense of respecting your time and space, any controls to tame voice or video calls on WhatsApp will be really welcome. Right now, the settings menu in WhatsApp doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of WhatsApp Calls, with zero customization available. If nothing else, this should be right up there with “who can see my last seen” in terms of importance. With work from home and the reliance on voice and video calls more than ever before, you may just need a toggle at some point if you want to get some urgent work done without getting disturbed.
Storage Usage: Rarely Is An Upgrade Such A Step Back
Earlier, WhatsApp had something called Storage Usage. That allowed you to check for what’s filling up the WhatsApp in your phone, on a wider scale. You’d be able to see total number of text messages, media files shared, GIFs, stickers etc. That way, when it was time to do some spring cleaning, you could even clean up certain categories on a larger scale. And then of course, you could always take a look at individual chats and groups to see how much they were bloating, and clean. Storage Usage was then replaced by Manage Storage. The world rejoiced, also because a lot of folks didn’t have much else to do. The result is it is not even a step forward but two steps back, nevertheless. A lot of the finer functionality is gone, and you’ll have to go to every individual chat or group listed there, manually select the media that you want to delete—and repeat that for every chat. It is bewildering how this has happened.
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