WhatsApp : 5 Things I Would Add / Improve

WhatsApp is, without a shadow of doubt, one of the most successful mobile applications ever. Now used by almost a billion people, this messaging app processes several billion messages everyday including hundreds of millions of voice messages. It was not the first messaging app, yet it emerged as global winner and continues to rule the market mainly because of its simplicity.

Instead of adding ‘fancy features’, the company remained focussed on simplicity and essential features. As a user, I have these five suggestions in mind that I would like to see in WhatsApp.

1.. Approval before adding to group : Alright. So just because someone has my number, does not give them right to add me to any group without my permission. Most of us have been in a situation atleast once, when someone added us to a group that we don’t want to be part of. There is option to leave the group though but it notifies every member and you come off as impolite snob. It would be great if WhatsApp rather gives an option to approve the group joining requests. They can alternatively give an option under Privacy, whether all group joining requests should be approved by user or not.

2. Image quality when shared : The app reduces the size of images when shared. This is a great optimization especially when users are on slow internet because this way they can exchange media with good user experience. But there is a section of users which uses WhatsApp for things like project collaborations, they would not want reduced image quality when sharing. The solution is to give an option while sharing if user wants to share the actual size image or reduced size for quicker delivery.

3. Sleep WA profile : This might not be a popular feature request but it would be a great help to those who want regular short breaks from the chat and concentrate on something more important. I do not want to be notified for any WhatsApp message without having to turn off my mobile. It would be like selectively turning off internet for WhatsApp. ( But why would WhatsApp do something that reduces user engagement! )

4. Highlight Groups distinctly : I wonder what is the reason behind not showing Groups list separately just like there is an Individual contacts’ list. To send a message in group, you need to search it in chats first. Why not divide the contacts list in two parts where first section shows the individual contacts and second section is the list of groups that you are part of.

5. Portable chat ecosystem : This is about creating an ecosystem of chat across my different devices. Just like iMessage, all my messages are synced across all my devices that have same Apple Id. I remember working on a portable messenger in 2012 at Octro, wherein we implemented exact same idea. Web WhatsApp does not serve that purpose.

I absolutely love the simplicity and the engineering behind WhatsApp, those two things make it the best of bests. Needless to say, WhatsApp beats its competitors on every performance metric.

Liked it? Read my article on scope of improvements in Clash of Clans here.