Facebook, WhatsApp & Instagram to Get Updates - What Will Change?

WhatsApp Payments, VR on Facebook, No likes visible on Instagram....there’s a lot that’s going to change soon!

Both Facebook and WhatsApp are going to go through a LOT of changes soon.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

There’s an 85% chance you’re listening to this podcast on a mobile phone. Listen up because this is for you. If you own a mobile phone or a computer, you’re likely to be one of the 2.3 billion who use Facebook or the 1.5 billion who use WhatsApp.

Both Facebook and WhatsApp are going to go through a LOT of changes soon. So, to avoid any sudden, rude surprises, today we’ll tell you all the BIG changes that you’ll see on your two most used apps.

Facebook held its annual F8 Keynote Conference. The conference is usually when the tech giant announces how it plans on changing its primary apps, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and its Virtual Reality arm, the Oculus VR system.

So sit back and listen. This is everything new that’s coming to Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram!

First off – Facebook. The big word for Facebook this year is privacy.

After last year’s Cambridge Analytica expose, Facebook has stepped up its privacy and safety measures, at least according to the company. Speaking at the event, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the six points that they will work on.

• Private interactions
• Encryption
• Reduced Permanence
• Safety
• Interoperability
• Secure Data Storage

Starting with Facebook messenger, the new Facebook messenger will become smaller and lighter, taking less than 30 MB of storage. It’ll also be introduced for desktops and MacOS as well, to allow interoperability AKA seamless transition between systems while messaging.

It’s also supposed to deliver increased privacy and launch faster than other messaging apps, at under 2 seconds to launch, but again that’s only a claim by Facebook at this point.

Facebook is also going to increase its focus on groups and communities, allowing smaller, more personalised groups to be formed. Messenger will introduce a Friends Tab where you will be able to interact with people you usually interact with on a regular basis in a separate space.

The next thing Facebook will update is its video call service. Facebook’s new video call device, Facebook Portal will offer end-to-end encrypted video calling and will be made available on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger as well. It’s set to be a new, hands-free video calling device.

Next, we have Facebook dating. If you've ever wanted to let Facebook know who your romantic crush is soon you'll have the chance to do just that with Facebook dating.

Facebook dating lets users express interest in each other and connect if both people are interested. But, India will have to wait a LITTLE longer. While the app is expanding from five countries to 14 more countries, India still isn’t on that list.

And finally on Facebook’s plan is AR, or Augmented Reality. Facebook owns Oculus VR, the company that makes Oculus Virtual reality kits.

Facebook will start integrating augmented reality into its environment, and has also relaunched Oculus for business, for people using Facebook for business. This means, fairly soon, more aspects of Facebook could be in augmented reality.

Now as far as WhatsApp goes, the private messenger that you and I use, isn’t seeing too much change, except for the updated security and safety features we mentioned earlier.

But that said, WhatsApp for Business and WhatsApp Payment will be taking off this year, with WhatsApp integrating and working with UPI and local banks. So, pretty soon, you could be making all your payments via WhatsApp!

And wrapping up this list of updates, is Instagram shopping. Instagram shopping will allow users to buy products using the app itself. You might have seen many Instagram ads for products already. 

A new feature will also enable influencers or celebrities to tag an article of clothing they’re wearing so followers can buy them within the Instagram app itself.

Create Mode will let you create a post for Stories that aren’t photo or video.

Instagram is also running a beta test to hide the like count from photos and view count from videos in an effort to get users to pay attention to the content itself and not engagement metrics that often cause people to compare themselves to others.

Now that you know what’s going to change, what are you looking forward to and what will you miss?