
From AI integration to cross-platform fluency—discover the must-have technical and soft skills for today’s most in-demand dev roles.

by Developer
Users are able to use an avatar as their profile picture or use it for stickers during instant messaging, similar to those offered by Bitmoji or Memoji. Unlike other platforms, WhatsApp requires third-party apps to add Stickers to WhatsApp. In October 2023 they also introduced passkey support, where a user can verify their login with on-device biometrics, rather than SMS. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS “soon”. In August 2021, WhatsApp launched a feature that allows chat history to be transferred between mobile operating systems.
WhatsApp’s voice codec is Opus, which uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and linear predictive coding (LPC) audio compression algorithms. Some devices using dual SIMs may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are unofficial workarounds to install the app. Previously the Android and Nokia Series 40 versions used an MD5-hashed, reversed-version of the phone’s IMEI as a password, while the iOS version used the phone’s Wi-Fi MAC address instead of the IMEI. WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP).
However, the company did not reveal the names of the end users, which according to research by Citizen Lab include, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates. According to WhatsApp, the exploit “targeted at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society” among a total of 1,400 users in 20 countries. A Wired report noted the attack was able to inject malware via calls to the targeted phone, even if the user did not daman game app answer the call. In March 2019, WhatsApp released a guide for users who had installed unofficial modified versions of WhatsApp and warned that it may ban those using unofficial clients. This is reportedly not an isolated occurrence, as federal agencies can use the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to covertly track users without submitting any probable cause or linking a user’s number to their identity. The enforcement of the privacy policy was postponed from February 8 to May 15, 2021, WhatsApp announced they had no plans to limit the functionality of the app for those who did not approve the new terms.
Full stops are the most commonly used punctuation marks; analysis of texts indicate that approximately half of all punctuation marks used are full stops. The full stop (Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point (.), is a punctuation mark used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation).a In May 2017, it was reported that WhatsApp users spend over 340 million minutes on video calls each day on the app. On August 24, 2014, Koum announced on his Twitter account that WhatsApp had over 600 million active users worldwide.
According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92% of all smartphones, with 86% of users reporting daily use. By April 22, 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos were being shared daily, and the messaging system was handling more than 10 billion messages each day. The hack, allegedly developed by Israeli surveillance technology firm NSO Group, injected malware onto WhatsApp users’ phones via a remote-exploit bug in the app’s Voice over IP calling functions. There were a series of incidents between 2017 and 2020, after which WhatsApp announced changes for Indian users of the platform that labels forwarded messages as such. In November 2017, WhatsApp implemented a feature giving users seven minutes to delete messages sent by mistake. In November 2025, WhatsApp announced that they would update their About feature, which allows users to add a short message to explain what they are doing.
They are also known as ellipsis dots or suspension points. The period/decimal point is often used with numbers. She likely does so to add emphasis and convince readers that hers is the final word in punctuation. They note that a 2015 survey conducted by the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton found that only 29 percent of American students were using a full stop, or period, because they consider it to be a “bad way to convey heartfelt emotions.” Cox and Pundir note that some writers and grammarians worry that the period is falling out of favor in the age of texting and electronic mail, in favor of exclamation points, ellipses, line breaks, and emoticons. These were the uses of the period.
Its function extends beyond simply marking the end of a sentence; it also contributes to the overall rhythm and flow of writing. The full stop is one of the most fundamental punctuation marks, essential for structuring written text and ensuring clarity. The full stop, also known as a period, is a fundamental punctuation mark in English. A 2016 story by Jeff Guo in The Washington Post stated that the line break had become the default method of punctuation in texting, comparable to the use of line breaks in poetry, and that a period at the end of a sentence causes the tone of the message to be perceived as cold, angry or passive-aggressive.
In September 2022, a critical security issue in WhatsApp’s Android video call feature was reported. At the beginning of 2022, it was revealed that San Diego–based startup Boldend had developed tools to hack WhatsApp’s encryption, gaining access to user data, at some point since the startup’s inception in 2017. On November 29, 2021, an FBI document was uncovered by Rolling Stone, revealing that WhatsApp responds to warrants and subpoenas from law enforcement within minutes, providing user metadata to the authorities. This new encryption feature added an additional layer of protection to chat backups stored either on Apple iCloud or Google Drive. The new privacy policy would not apply within the EU, as it is illegal under the GDPR.
This led many users to delete WhatsApp and instead use services such as Signal and Telegram. He also said that the app would not display any third-party ads, and that it would have new features such as the ability to communicate with businesses. The acquisition was influenced by the data provided by Onavo, Facebook’s research app for monitoring competitors and trending usage of social activities on mobile phones, as well as startups that were performing “unusually well”. Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media. Some time in 2013 WhatsApp acquired Santa Clara–based startup SkyMobius, the developers of Vtok, a video and voice calling app.
A full stop is typically used at the end of an elliptical sentence if it expresses a complete thought. Elliptical sentences are sentences in which some words are omitted because they are understood from the context. Correct the following run-on sentences by adding full stops.
The two dots on the right are slightly ascending from the two on the left, with space in between. IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP, a small circle used as a full stop instead of a solid dot. Although the present Greek full stop (τελεία, teleía) is romanized as a Latin full stop and encoded identically with the full stop in Unicode, the historic full stop in Greek was a high dot and the low dot functioned as a kind of comma, as noted above. Prior to the influence of this work, the typesetter’s or printer’s style, or “closed convention”, now also called American style, was common throughout the world.
In March 2024, Meta announced that WhatsApp would let third-party messaging services enable interoperability with WhatsApp, a requirement of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). In August 2022, WhatsApp launched an integration with JioMart, available only to users in India. The Cloud API enables businesses to integrate WhatsApp with other software, have a central WhatsApp account for multiple users and implement advanced automation.
As discussed, the period is used to convey the end of a sentence or abbreviation. William Caxton, a British merchant, writer, and printer, brought the printing press to England in 1476—along with the low dot, or period. Later, with Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and movable type in the mid-1400s, printers continued the tradition of using only the low dot as a period. Eventually, with the popularization of block books—books printed from woodcuts in Europe around 1300—engravers disregarded the high and middle dots and retained only the low dot, signifying the end of a sentence. The period is actually called a full stop in British English, according to R.D. To learn more about punctuation and numbers see comma in the writing school section of the website.
Previously, users could opt-out of such data sharing, but the new policy removed this option. In January 2021, WhatsApp announced an updated privacy policy which stated that WhatsApp would share user data with Facebook and its “family of companies” beginning February 2021. As the complaint was heavily redacted due to being an ongoing case, it did not disclose whether this was alleged tampering with the app’s end-to-end encryption, or Google accessing user backups.clarification needed However, the company did not reveal names of the end users, which according to a research by Citizen Lab include, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates. When a user deletes media for everyone, WhatsApp does not delete images saved in the iOS camera roll and so those users are able to keep the images.
Since the complete roll out of this feature, users cannot check old messages before this period on the Web version anymore. WhatsApp has rolled out a feature called ‘Voice Status Updates’, which allows users to record voice notes and share them as their status on the app. A period ( . ) is a punctuation mark indicating a full stop, placed at the end of declarative sentences as well as after many abbreviations. In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were reported to have been tricked into downloading a third-party application called WhatsApp Gold, which was part of a scam that infected the users’ phones with malware.
On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for “providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover” in 2014. (The word “telegram” appeared in WhatsApp’s code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation. He also said that new mobile phones would be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, and that their ultimate goal was to be on all smartphones. Three days after announcing the Facebook purchase, Koum said they were working to introduce voice calls. These could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other things like weather.
In October 2024, WhatsApp expanded their chat filter feature, adding the ability for users to create custom lists that contain specific chats of their choice. In October 2020, WhatsApp rolled out a feature allowing users to mute both individuals and group chats forever. Local users can text special numbers in the app to launch an in-app shopping process, where they can order groceries. Facing criticism, WhatsApp postponed the update to May 15, 2021, and had no plans to limit functionality of users, nor nag users who did not approve the new terms. In the same month, WhatsApp began testing a feature to help users find out more information and context about information they receive to help combat misinformation.
In the Ge’ez script that is used to write Amharic and several other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages, the equivalent of the full stop following a sentence is the “ˈarat nettib” (U+1362 ። ETHIOPIC FULL STOP), which means four dots. The low dot was increasingly but irregularly used to mark full stops after the 9th century and was fully adapted after the advent of print. The practice in the United States and Canada is to place full stops and commas inside quotation marks in most styles. In Unix-like operating systems, some applications treat files or directories that start with a dot as hidden. RISC OS uses dots to separate levels of the hierarchical file system when writing path names—similar to / (forward-slash) in Unix-based systems and \ (back-slash) in MS-DOS-based systems and the Windows NT systems that succeeded them.
In December 2021, the Swiss army banned the use of WhatsApp and several other non-Swiss encrypted messaging services by army personnel. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after less than 24 hours. On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents. In September 2017, security researchers reported to The New York Times that the WhatsApp service had been completely blocked in China.