WhatsApp to notify your contacts when you change phone number

The new beta version of WhatsApp for Android comes with major updates. While the app size has been reduced, the beta version has introduced a new feature that notifies the contacts whenever a user changes phone number.

According to technology website Teknepolis, the latest package 2.17.375 takes up less space when downloading and installing. The decrease — approximately 6MB — in the size is due to the elimination of 20 libraries that were added in versions above.

The other major update is that when you change your phone number in WhatsApp, your contacts would receive notification of the update.

The feature would work every time you change your phone number. Users can even customise which contacts -- all or with which they have chats -- would see that they have changed numbers. In addition to these two major updates, the company has also modified 473 files correcting several minor errors. ALSO READ: WhatsApp and user privacy: Your top questions answered

Note that these new features are still part of the beta version and don't necessarily mean an immediate or inevitable roll out. That being said, the "Change number" feature has been part of the beta version of WhatsApp for a very long time. Though this is the first time the feature has arrived on WhatsApp's Android beta version.

WhatsApp recently rolled out a new update to its Status feature, allowing users to set text-based status updates. Users can also customise font, background colour and even add a link when posting the Status.