A couple of weeks ago, WhatsApp decided to abandon its text-based status system in favor of one extremely similar to Snapchat. The rejection from users was strong, and besides seeing the change as a simple copy, they also demanded the return of the previous mechanism. In a particularly clear moment, WhatsApp picked up the gauntlet and confirmed that the old statuses will return next week for Android, followed by iOS and Windows Phone.
Users resist change
Reversing course is difficult to handle in the computing world. Users are expected to welcome new changes and features with open arms, but often exactly the opposite happens. In fact, anyone would like to imagine that most companies learned this lesson from previous examples. We all know very well what happened with Windows 8, and Facebook receives a storm of insults every time it modifies its interface. Users resist alterations, especially when they feel that things “work well”. And that's more or less what happened with the status section in WhatsApp. The texts were precise, easy to edit, and even charming in a way, but Facebook decided to implement a status system based on photos, GIFs, and videos, very similar to what is known in Snapchat and Instagram.
The reception from users was cold at best. Personally, I see nothing interesting in the new system, and I admit I miss my classic text status. WhatsApp took almost a month to understand that things weren't working as expected, and finally came the announcement that the old statuses will return, though without removing the current system. Users of the WhatsApp beta version could appreciate this before (the text is modified through the “About...” section in the profile menu), but the company confirmed that the change will take effect during the next week for Android, followed by the iOS build, and later Windows Phone/Mobile.
The basic functioning of statuses will also remain intact: the text version is permanent, and only the user modifies it, while new statuses disappear after 24 hours. Ideally, this last option could be disabled entirely, but we will always applaud when a company acknowledges that it took a misstep.
