An update for WhatsApp was released yesterday, but it did have some problems reaching users because it turned out, some problems forced to team to release a few subsequent updates over the next day.
Everything appears to be working fine now, so if you get the latest version of WhatsApp, you’ll find some new features, specifically a Mark As Unread option, new notification options and a new low data usage setting for voice calls, plus support for Google Drive backups has been reintroduced.
The new notification options let you mute specific chats for 8 hours, 1 week or 1 year. The tones, lights, ringtones, and vibrations for notifications you receive can be customized and the app also offers controls on when notifications are shown and if they should be displayed in a popup or not. Furthermore, all the new notification settings can be applied to single contacts or entire groups.
The Mark As Unread option is pretty straightforward: it lets you change the status of a message to green, just like if it was unread. Any message marked as unread will, however, remain in the same position, in the chronological conversation listing. Low data usage for voice calls is another option introduced by the update. You can find it in WhatsApp’s settings and while we haven’t tested its effect yet, it seems like it may come in handy if you’re on a low-bandwidth connection or are close to reaching your monthly data cap.
Support for Google Drive backups is fully automated and doesn’t offer any kind of option to perform it manually. You can find some Google Drive related statistics in the settings, but there’s no way to customize this particular function. There is an automated attempt to perform a local backup on a daily basis, but for now it looks like this feature is broken for many users.
Given the problems this particular WhatsApp update went through, there’s a chance it may be still rolling out for some users. Even so, do visit WhatsApp in the Play Store and check if it’s available for you.
Feel free to visit our News section to stay up to date on everything apps and games. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ to receive our latest mobile how tos, and apps & games reviews for Android, iOS and Windows Phone !
