Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a surge in WhatsApp usage across India in order to help people stay connected while they are practising social distancing. Now news is rife that WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature for India in order to bring down video status limit from 30 seconds to 15 seconds under an initiative to reduce the traffic on the server infrastructures.
A tweet by WABetaInfo has revealed WhatsApp has put a bar on time limit for videos posted under the ‘Status’ section of the Facebook-owned instant messaging app. According to the tweet by WABetaInfo, “You can no longer send videos to WhatsApp Status if they are longer than 16 seconds: only videos having a duration of 15 seconds will be allowed. This is happening in India and it’s probably an initiative to reduce the traffic on the server infrastructures.”
However, it further added that some users might be still able to post videos having a longer duration as it will take a little while for the change to be introduced pan-India. While there is a cap on the duration of videos to be uploaded under WhatApp status section, there is no limit of the number of videos a user can upload as of now. Mind you, we are yet to receive an official announcement about WhatsApp status video limit.
In these uncertain times, reliable communication is critical owing to which WhatsApp has almost doubled its server capacity and continue to see strong reliability as people place more voice and video calls around the world. Besides this, WhatsApp also introduced an information hub with tips on how healthcare workers, educators and local businesses can stay connected using this instant-messaging app. It has also donated $1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to expand the presence of local fact-checkers on WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp is helping World Health Organization (WHO) to spread its Health Alert to the users of this instant-messaging app by answering common questions about COVID-19. It provides timely, reliable information about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as well as travel advice, coronavirus myth debunking and more.
All one needs to do to contact the WHO Health Alert, save the number +41 79 893 1892 in your phone contacts and then text the word ‘Hi’ in a WhatsApp message to get started. The service has been rolled out in English but will be available in all six United Nations languages (English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) soon.
https://twitter.com/WhatsApp/status/1241110782235930624/photo/1
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