Meta-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature that will allow users to share their status updates to Facebook stories without leaving WhatsApp. The feature was spotted in the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS 23.7.0.75 update by WaBetaInfo. Sharing a screenshot of the new feature, the report says that it will improve the way a status update is shared to Facebook Story. The report states that WhatsApp users will always be in control over their status updates as they can decide which status updates are always shared. The report says that channels on WhatsApp will be available as a separate and optional section within the Status tab. The section will be called ‘Updates’. In future, the Status tab will have a revamped interface for status updates. On the privacy front, a WhatsApp channel will not reveal the user's phone number and other information. Such details will remain hidden. But, messages received within a channel won’t be end-to-end encrypted. In case you are unaware, private messages shared on WhatsApp - both individual and group chats offer end-to-end encryption. This means that no one can read these messages, except the sender and receiver. “Since this is an optional extension of private messaging and it does not pivot to a public social network, people are always in control over which channels they want to subscribe to, and no one else will be able to see whom they follow, regardless of whether they have added them as contacts or not," the WaBetaInfo says. Additionally, WhatsApp channels will support handles so users will be able to search for a specific WhatsApp channel by simply entering its username within WhatsApp. This will eliminate the need to navigate to external websites.
