Just last week WhatsApp rolled out an update to its app in which status messages were replaced by Stories similar to that found on Instagram and Facebook. We guess Facebook saw how well-received the feature was on Instagram and decided to replicate it on WhatsApp, although we’re guessing not everyone is necessarily a fan.
The good news is that if you don’t like this change and would much rather disable it, you’ll be pleased to learn that there is now a guide in which it will teach you how to disable it. However note that this guide is aimed only at Android users and it will require users to own a rooted device, so if you aren’t either of these things then we guess you’ll just have to live with it.
The guide was put together by XDA forum member GokuINC and can be found on the XDA forums. It appears to be pretty straightforward and simple, but like we said you will need a rooted device so if you don’t, you’ll need to root it first and that will be a completely separate guide depending on your device.
As is the case with all attempts at tweaking your phone and apps, do proceed with caution. That being said for those who do miss text status updates, it was recently discovered in the latest WhatsApp beta that text status messages could be making a return in future versions of the app.