The Facebook-owned company, WhatsApp, is reportedly testing the very unusual removal of a feature. According to a report published about the company’s WhatsApp Business app, it seems that WhatsApp has removed the online status indicator feature of business accounts in the recent Android beta version.
According to WABetaInfo, a few testers revealed that version 2.21.13.17 of WhatsApp beta for Android included an extraordinary change, that has taken out the ability to view either a Business account is currently active on the app or not. While the testers originally speculated it to be a bug, but later confirmed that the beta android users will no longer be able to view the availability status of business accounts on WhatsApp.
There is no official word from WhatsApp on whether they also removed the online indicator from WhatsApp for Android and iOS. Users who updated the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android will not see the online status indicator anymore. However, WhatsApp for iOS and Android apps will still display the green indicator.
Read more: WhatsApp plans to add multi-device support and two more features soon
The widely used feature, online status indicator, was added to WhatsApp Business when the service was first initiated in 2018 for small businesses. According to WABetaInfo, If the testing goes smoothly with the new Android version, this aspect will also be added to WhatsApp Web as well.
WhatsApp Business has enabled businesses to leverage the forum to engage with consumers and negotiate their products in a much easier and faster way. It is a medium to reach out directly to customers and effectively nurture business.
Facebook has previously rolled out new features to make WhatsApp Business attainable to businesses and users, encompassing – alerting people when a popular item is back in stock, sticker pack to help businesses customize a small message on the sticker, sending a custom message to people who are attempting to connect the company after the working hours and many more.
