LOS ANGELES: WhatsApp has overhauled its profile page, letting users add an emoji and a few words to the picture shown in their profile and in one-to-one chats.
The emoji and text appear in a speech bubble on the profile image, and tapping on it lets you reply to someone's speech bubble directly in a one-to-one chat.
You can create or edit your About by opening Settings and tapping "what's happening?" underneath your name at the top. You can also add or change the emoji via the emoji icon.
If you put "busy" and a sweating emoji in your About, other users will then see this when they start to message you.
"For those days when you’re free one minute but busy the next – About can tell others why you can’t talk or what you do want to talk about with just an emoji and a short phrase," WhatsApp says.
Under "Duration", you choose how many hours, days or weeks your text will be displayed. By default, WhatsApp sets the duration to one day.
You can also decide who sees your About in your Privacy settings, with options for "Everyone", "My contacts", "My contacts except …" or "Nobody".
That makes About a kind of alternative to Status updates, where users have control over expiry and privacy. If the About feature is not yet available on your device, you may need to update WhatsApp. – dpa
