WhatsApp testing this much awaited feature: How it will save your time

WhatsApp Status, Facebook Status and Instagram Stories - What's the difference between the three? Just that they are available on three different platforms. And, also to post a picture or message on all three, you need to separately open the apps and publish the status. However, that is about to change with Facebook-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp testing a feature that would give users the option of sharing their status Stories directly on other social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Gmail and Google Photos.

Just like Instagram, WhatsApp status Stories allow users to post images, text and videos on their profile that disappear after 24 hours. "As part of the experiment, users listed WhatsApp`s beta programme, would start to see a new sharing option beneath their statuses that would ask them if they want to further share the same Story on any of the other apps," The Verge reported on Wednesday. 

The feature is expected to make use of the same iOS and Android data-sharing APIs as every other app, that would transfer data between the apps, on-device. As of nowm there is no option to have WhatsApp status automatically shared to another service and the instant messaging app intends that the feature should be an active decision on the part of the user.

Even though it has been confirmed that WhatsApp is testing the feature, it is still unclear by when would it be available. 

But, the test can be seen as a development to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision to create a unified app combining WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram to let over 2.6 billion users communicate with each other cross-apps by 2020. The move could let the social networking giant tout higher user engagement to advertisers, thus, ramping up its advertising division at a time when growth has slowed down. Released in 2009 first, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014.