Nikhil Pahwa on X: "Six things WhatsApp Plus should have instead I have little need for the six features that WhatsApp offers as a part of WhatsApp Plus. I don’t need a custom app icon, stickers, a different theme for the app, ringtones (my Whatsapp is on mute and notifications are off except for my wife), or pinning extra chats: three pinned chats are enough. What I will gladly pay for: 1. Verified profile, so as to prevent people from impersonating me. It has happened. Happens to a lot of founder friends of mine. 2. Block WhatsApp for Business messages (mostly spam), except for businesses that I approve, instead of businesses that claim to have my approval, alongwith the ability to pause messages from businesses once my transaction is over. Transfer control to the user from the business. 3. Identify who has me on which broadcast list, and give me the ability to exit that list permanently. 4. Allow only your contacts to message you on WhatsApp 5. Autoresponders: for business, for when you’re busy, for when you’re traveling, especially for when you want to redirect people to someone else. I’d like to redirect messages from PR agencies to a black hole, but that’s just me. 6. Persistent web login and agent enablement: allow people and their agents to be persistently be logged in without having to change their number to WhatsApp for Business, or login every 14 days for their agents to retain access to it, and make WhatsApp more programmable with webhooks. Ok, I know the last one is something that a handful of people like me would want, but my point is that what WhatsApp thinks people want, based on its offerings, is bling not utility. That’s a social media mindset. WhatsApp is not Instagram, it’s a messaging app. What people actually want is lower noise, higher signal. YouTube got this right with YouTube Premium." / X

Six things WhatsApp Plus should have instead I have little need for the six features that WhatsApp offers as a part of WhatsApp Plus. I don’t need a custom app icon, stickers, a different theme for the app, ringtones (my Whatsapp is on mute and notifications are off except for my wife), or pinning extra chats: three pinned chats are enough. What I will gladly pay for: 1. Verified profile, so as to prevent people from impersonating me. It has happened. Happens to a lot of founder friends of mine. 2. Block WhatsApp for Business messages (mostly spam), except for businesses that I approve, instead of businesses that claim to have my approval, alongwith the ability to pause messages from businesses once my transaction is over. Transfer control to the user from the business. 3. Identify who has me on which broadcast list, and give me the ability to exit that list permanently. 4. Allow only your contacts to message you on WhatsApp 5. Autoresponders: for business, for when you’re busy, for when you’re traveling, especially for when you want to redirect people to someone else. I’d like to redirect messages from PR agencies to a black hole, but that’s just me. 6. Persistent web login and agent enablement: allow people and their agents to be persistently be logged in without having to change their number to WhatsApp for Business, or login every 14 days for their agents to retain access to it, and make WhatsApp more programmable with webhooks. Ok, I know the last one is something that a handful of people like me would want, but my point is that what WhatsApp thinks people want, based on its offerings, is bling not utility. That’s a social media mindset. WhatsApp is not Instagram, it’s a messaging app. What people actually want is lower noise, higher signal. YouTube got this right with YouTube Premium.

1:29 PM · Jun 21, 20269.6KViews

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