WhatsApp this week: It’s all about privacy

WhatsApp is facing heat in India over its new privacy policy. Owing to the outrage, the company has delayed the update in India.

Here's what happened in WhatsApp this week. (Pixabay)

WhatsApp is constantly upgrading its platform. Every week we get to know about the new and upcoming features of the messaging app. This week was a bit different. This week news focused more on the company's new privacy policy and its reaction by people and experts at large.

In addition to that, we also got to know about a couple of features that are expected to arrive in the app in the coming days.

So, here's everything that created a buzz in WhatsApp this week:

Read Later feature: WhatsApp is working on a new feature called Read Later that will replace the archived chats feature. It will keep the archived chats hidden forever unless unarchived. However, this feature isn't available even to beta users yet.

New tones for calls: WhatsApp is also adding new tones to its platform that will appear when users accept, decline or terminate a call. These tones, as per a report by WABetaInfo, are available in the beta version of the app and in the latest WhatsApp for Android (web release).

Privacy policy update delayed: WhatsApp has delayed its privacy policy update. Earlier, the update was set to come into effect on February 8. Now, it has been delayed to launch in May.

WhatsApp tackles privacy debate with print ads: WhatsApp earlier this week published full-page ads in leading newspapers across India to tackle concerns around its new privacy policy. “WhatsApp respects and protects your privacy,” the ad said.

WhatsApp faces legal hurdle over new privacy policy: A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court against the company's new privacy policy. The petition claims that the messaging app was jeopardizing national security by transmitting and storing user data in another country.