Secret WhatsApp innovation: why the blue circle is so rarely seen

• Some profiles in WhatsApp have recently been marked with a blue circle.
• This appears when a contact posts a new status.
• Apparently, WhatsApp is only testing the function with a fraction of its users.

What is WhatsApp up to with the blue circle? Since mid-September, some of you have been able to see this around the profile picture of some contacts in the chat list. The messenger thus indicates that they have published a new status. So far, you were only informed about this in the “Status” tab, but not in the chat list itself.

Is everything just a test run?

WhatsApp has not officially announced this innovation yet. There is also no information about her in the help section of the messenger. And that might have a reason. Apparently, WhatsApp is currently testing this innovation outside of the beta version of the messenger with only a fraction of its fans. A survey of our readers shows that only comparatively few of them see the circle.

In the editorial office, it is also only visible on one device so far. On Twitter, there are also mainly comments from English-speaking countries.

Whether you see the circle or not is apparently independent of the WhatsApp version you are using, as a post on Reddit suggests. While the circle can be seen on the thread creator’s iPhone 12 Pro Max, it is not displayed on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, despite the identical WhatsApp version. Another indication of a covert test run.

Fan base reacts divided

Perhaps some of you will never see the circle. Because user feedback on the innovation is divided. While some celebrate the change, others criticize WhatsApp for aligning itself too much with Instagram.

If you don’t want to wait for the change to be activated for your device, you can alternatively use the Watusi WhatsApp clone. This gives WhatsApp an Instagram-like look. However, you risk having your account blocked. In addition, Watusi is only available for download for the iPhone.

And what does the circle in front of a message mean?

At the same time as the blue circle, WhatsApp also introduced another new icon. You can now sometimes see a circle in front of a message in the chat list. While the well-known ticks provide information about the status of a message, the circle here shows that you have reacted to a status message from a contact.

Also interesting…

Another new icon in Messenger’s main menu could soon cause a stir. In the linked article you can find out what it’s all about.