When someone updates their WhatsApp status, you receive a notification about it so you can view the new status update. The notification shows the contact’s name and profile picture along with a preview of their status update.
Receiving Status Notifications
By default, WhatsApp is configured to notify you whenever any of your contacts updates their status. These notifications appear in a few different places:
- As a banner notification at the top of your phone’s screen
- In the notifications shade when you swipe down from the top of the screen
- As a new message within the WhatsApp app
The banner and notifications shade alerts display the name and profile photo of the contact along with a preview of their new status update. Tapping on the notification will open WhatsApp and show the new status.
Within the WhatsApp app, new status updates are displayed in the ‘Chats’ tab similar to how new messages appear. You’ll see the contact’s name, profile picture, and a preview of their status.
Status Preview
The preview of the status that you see in notifications depends on the type of status update:
- Text-only status: Preview shows the text
- Image status: Preview shows a thumbnail of the image
- Video status: Preview shows the video thumbnail with a play icon
This allows you to quickly get an idea of what the new status update contains. For privacy, only a short preview of text statuses is shown in the notification.
Muting Status Notifications
If you don’t want to receive notifications when a specific contact updates their status, you can mute their status updates:
- Open the chat with the contact
- Tap the contact’s name at the top of the chat screen
- Tap Mute > Mute Status
This will stop you getting notifications for that particular contact’s status updates. You can unmute their status updates any time by following the same steps.
Alternatively, from the contact info screen, tap Media, links and status > Unmute status.
Disabling All Status Notifications
If you want to disable status update notifications entirely so you never get notified about new statuses, you can turn off all status notifications:
- Open WhatsApp Settings
- Tap Notifications > Status
- Turn off Show New Status Preview
This will stop all status notifications from appearing. You can re-enable them anytime by flipping the switch back on.
Customizing Status Notifications
Beyond fully enabling or disabling status notifications, you can customize them to better suit your preferences:
- Sound: Choose a notification sound specifically for new status alerts.
- Popup preview: Turn off the popup preview to only get a banner alert without a status preview.
- Vibrate: Toggle vibration on/off for status notifications.
- Light: Enable a blinking notification light for new status notifications.
- Priority: Make status notifications appear as priority, so they show up when Do Not Disturb is on.
Each of these options can be changed in your phone’s main Settings app, under Apps & Notifications > WhatsApp > Notifications.
Troubleshooting Missing Notifications
If you aren’t receiving status notifications properly, here are some things to check:
- Make sure notifications are enabled for WhatsApp in your phone’s main Settings app.
- Check that the specific status notification settings are turned on in WhatsApp.
- Confirm the contact hasn’t been muted within WhatsApp.
- Ensure WhatsApp has proper permissions to display notifications.
- Make sure your internet connection is working properly.
Additionally, some things to keep in mind:
- You will only receive notifications for contacts who have your phone number saved.
- Notifications require both you and the contact to have an active internet connection.
- Status previews may not display if your phone’s lock screen privacy settings prevent content previews.
Viewing Full Status Updates
When you receive a new status notification, tap on it to open WhatsApp and view the full status update. This will take you directly to that contact’s status where you can view the content they shared.
To view status updates within WhatsApp:
- Open the WhatsApp app
- Tap the Status tab at the top
- Tap on the contact whose status you want to view
- Swipe or tap through their status updates
This will let you view images, videos, and text statuses in full. You can react to statuses and see who else has viewed them.
Replying to Status Updates
Want to respond to a status update from one of your contacts? It’s easy to reply right within WhatsApp:
- View the status update you want to reply to
- Tap and hold on the status to bring up the reply bar
- Type your reply in the text field
- Tap the send arrow to post your reply
This will send your response as a private message to the contact who posted the status update. Replying is a quick way to turn their status into a conversation.
Posting Your Own Status Updates
In addition to viewing your contacts’ status updates, you can also post your own status updates for your contacts to see:
- Open WhatsApp and tap on your profile picture
- Tap My Status and select the type of update you want to post (text, image, video, etc)
- Customize your status how you want
- Tap Send to post it as your status
Your status will be visible to all contacts for 24 hours. You can change who can see your status in WhatsApp’s privacy settings if desired.
Managing Status Privacy
By default, your status updates in WhatsApp are visible to all of your contacts. But you can customize who can view your status updates:
- My Contacts: Only the contacts saved in your phone’s address book can see your status.
- My Contacts Except: Choose specific contacts to exclude from seeing your status.
- Only Share With: Restrict your status updates to only be viewable by specific contacts you pick.
To change your status privacy:
- Open WhatsApp Settings
- Tap Account > Privacy
- Tap Status > Choose who can see my status
- Select your desired privacy setting
You can change this at any time depending on how public or private you want your status updates to be.
Deleting Old Statuses
Don’t want your old status updates hanging around for your contacts to continue viewing? You can delete them:
- In WhatsApp, tap on your profile picture
- Tap My Status
- Tap and hold on a status update to select it
- Tap the trash can icon to delete it
This will permanently delete that particular status. Repeat the process to delete multiple old statuses.
Alternatively, tap More Options > Clear All Statuses to delete all your previous status updates at once. This clears your entire status history.
Turning Off Read Receipts
By default, your contacts can see when you’ve viewed their status updates. If you don’t want them seeing read receipts, you can disable them:
- Open WhatsApp Settings
- Tap Account > Privacy
- Turn off Read Receipts
This will prevent your read receipts from being visible to all contacts when viewing their statuses. They will no longer know when you have seen their updates.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you’re having issues with WhatsApp status notifications and updates, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure WhatsApp is updated to the latest version.
- Force close and restart the WhatsApp app if notifications have stopped.
- Check your internet connection is working properly.
- Clear WhatsApp cache and data if issues persist.
- Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp as a last resort.
- Report persistent bugs and issues to WhatsApp technical support.
With some help from these tips, you should be able to sort out any problems you’re encountering with status notifications and viewing status updates within WhatsApp.