With more than 5 billion downloads and over 2 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is among the most used means of daily communication on the planet. Unarguably, one of the main allure is the simplicity of use. Almost anyone can find their way around it even with the littlest of education or tech-savviness. In fact, I remember a friend calling and teaching his 70-year-old dad over the phone how to use WhatsApp. That’s how simple it is to use the app. n

In the past few years, the company has added many exciting new features like group video calls, end-to-end encryption- though this particular one is still up for debate among experts-disappearing messages, dark mode, and recently the money wallet being tested in some parts of Asia (ah do they ever rest at all?).

However, as with any good product, there is never a time to stop innovating, tinkering to find better ways to improve on user experience and I think it's about time the WhatsApp team up their game a little.

All the features suggested in this article were borne out of problems I encountered while using the app but I’m pretty sure many other WhatsApp users experience the same problems. Let's dive in, shall we?

Shift Highlight

Sometimes we need to copy a chat we had with a particular user and send it either to a third party, within the app, or outside.

The normal procedure is to press and hold the first line of chat, then begin clicking all the lines of chat you intend to copy: easy peasy when copying a few lines of chat but painstaking when you have, say seventy lines of chat to copy.

Hello WhatsApp

What if you integrate the shift + click function found in the Windows OS where the user can simply press shift, click on the first and last line of text they intend to copy, and every line of chat in-between is copied. The user can then proceed to forward or copy and paste.

Temporary groups

Many users have developed a chronic phobia for WhatsApp groups for good reasons. One of the reasons is that they get added to groups without their consent.
Let’s face it; some groups are created to achieve a short-term goal but the problem arises when the creator refuses or forgets to delete the group after the goal is achieved. While some users have no qualms pressing the "Exit group" button, others feel handicapped in doing so (and indeed some cultures frown at such. Odd right?).

Hello WhatsApp

What if you designed a group that self-destroys after the expiration date?

So for example, Tom creates a group among his classmates to plan a surprise birthday for their teacher, Miss Lucy. While creating the group, the app prompts Tom to enter an expiry date and he inputs two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, the group self-destructs. Voila!

I predict a greater number of WhatsApp users would find it more comfortable to create and join groups they know have an expiry date.

In conclusion

What do you feel about these suggested features? Please share your thoughts and comments.

Overall I think WhatsApp has been doing a great job since its inception and they don’t seem like they intend to rest on their oars anytime soon.

Stay tuned for more updates on my suggestions and musing about WhatsApp and other tech products.