Nov 11, 2016 08:39 PM
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WhatsApp is the No. 1 paid social networking app for iOS and the No. 5 free communications app on Google Play, with more than 200 million monthly active users. The cross-platform app is also available for BlackBerry and Windows Phone. With all these users downloading the messaging app to group chat and send photos and videos-without incurring texting fees-is WhatsApp worth the hype? Yes, and here's why.
After installation, WhatsApp accesses your Contacts and sends you push notifications with your consent. You then enter your phone number-the app doesn't assign you a new number. Then you can name your phone and add a profile picture.
Interface
WhatsApp's interface is clean and simple, with a bottom nav bar for Favorites, Status, Contacts, Chats and Settings. Favorites displays your Contacts who use WhatsApp and offers the ability to invite contacts via mail, message or Twitter. Status lets you set a status like Available, Busy or In A Meeting, or clear your status. Contacts lists all of your contacts(you can also search within your Contacts from here).
You can start a new conversation within Chats by tapping the Compose button in the upper right. Chats lists your conversations and lets you start group chats. Settings is where you can tweak everything from font size and message timestamp to notifications.
Features
In addition to texts, WhatsApp users can send photos, videos, audio notes, contacts and locations. WhatsApp also lets you send and receive phone calls; however, calls are placed through your mobile carrier.
WhatsApp uses green arrows to indicate whether your message was delivered and read, and you can see when your friend is typing. There's an option to email conversations, and swiping right on a chat deletes it.
Performance
In our testing of WhatsApp, text messages were sent and arrived quickly and seamlessly. Group chat was as simple as picking a subject(the app supports up to 30 participants, which is 10 less than Viber's 40 participants). We sent and received all kinds of multimedia without a hitch. Calls went through quickly, and the audio quality(as expected) was as clear as placing a call through our iPhone's dialer. Status changes also happened immediately.
