In April 2011, Sequoia Capital invested about $8 million for more than 15% of the company, after months of negotiation by Sequoia partner Jim Goetz. Koum then hired a friend in Los Angeles, Chris Peiffer, to develop a BlackBerry version, which arrived two months later. Although Acton was working on another startup idea, he decided to join the company. Koum updated WhatsApp so that everyone in the user’s network would be notified when a user’s status changed.
Data Not Linked to You
In January 2020, WhatsApp reached over 5 billion installs on Google Play Store making it only the second non-Google app to achieve this milestone. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp “has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines”. WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from two billion in April 2012, and one billion the previous October. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has prohibited local banks from using instant messaging applications like WhatsApp for customer communication. The army recommended that all army personnel use Threema instead, as the service is based in Switzerland. In December 2021, the Swiss army banned the use of WhatsApp and several other non-Swiss encrypted messaging services by army personnel.
Whatsapps Channels.
Local users can text special numbers in the app to launch an in-app shopping process, where they can order groceries. The Cloud API enables businesses to integrate WhatsApp with other software, have a central WhatsApp account for multiple users and implement advanced automation. In May 2022, WhatsApp launched its Cloud API services (now known as WhatsApp Business Platform) for larger businesses requiring features beyond the WhatsApp Business App.
- Within China, the State Council mandates that all maps of China use the GCJ-02 coordinate system, which is offset from the WGS-84 system used in most of the world.
- In August 2021, WhatsApp launched a feature that allows chat history to be transferred between mobile operating systems.
- Street View garnered much controversy after its release because of privacy concerns about the uncensored nature of the panoramic photographs, although the views are only taken on public streets.
- Google Maps provides a route planner, allowing users to find available directions through driving, public transportation, walking, or biking.
- On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for “providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover” in 2014.
Meta Help Center
He also said that new mobile phones would be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, and that their ultimate goal was to be on all smartphones. This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to pay for more services like this – or so the hope goes. These could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other things like weather. The idea, he said, is to develop a group of basic internet services that would be free of charge to use – “a 911 for the internet”. Sequoia Capital received an approximate 5,000% return on its initial investment. At the time, it was the largest acquisition of a venture-capital-backed company in history.
Google Maps provides a route planner, allowing users to find available directions through driving, public transportation, walking, or biking. In January 2021, Google announced that it would be launching a new feature displaying COVID-19 vaccination sites. In December 2019, Incognito mode was added, allowing users to enter destinations without saving entries to their Google accounts.
Engadget called the revamped feature “WhatsApp’s version of an AIM away message” and likened it to Instagram’s and Facebook’s Notes. Prior to the update, the feature was “largely hidden within the apps menus” and difficult to find, with the reason for updating being that WhatsApp wanted the feature to be used more often. According to WhatsApp, this update was made for the incoming Christmas period for users to inform their contacts on their activities during the holidays. By default, it is set to disappear in 24 hours, but it can be set for a longer amount of time and can be restricted for viewing by other contacts in the Settings menu. In September 2024, WhatsApp expanded support for Meta AI, allowing users to send text and photos to Meta AI to ask questions, identify objects, translate text or edit pictures.
Google declined the offer, as it was unwilling to accept restrictions on reducing the quality around locations the South Korean Government felt were sensitive (see restrictions on geographic data in South Korea). On June 27, 2016, Google rolled out new satellite imagery worldwide sourced from Landsat 8, comprising over 700 trillion pixels of new data. On January 29, 2013, Google Maps was updated to include a map of North Korea.
This allows users to send messages between other messaging apps and WhatsApp while maintaining end-to-end encryption. In December 2019, WhatsApp announced that a new update would lock out any Apple users who had not updated to iOS 9 or higher and Samsung, Huawei, Sony and Google users who had not updated to version 4.0 by February 1, 2020. Providing a bundle of these free of charge to users will work like a gateway drug of sorts – users who may be able to afford data services and phones these days just don’t see the point of why they would pay for those data services. As of May 2025, the service had 3 billion monthly active users, making it the most used messenger app. The privacy change, an update to the Gmail iOS app that “now supports sign-in across Google iOS apps, including Maps, Drive, YouTube and Chrome”, meant that Google would be able to identify users’ actions across its different apps. Additionally, Quartz reported in April 2014 that a “sneaky new privacy change” would have an effect on the majority of iOS users.
Mapping Blood Donation Sites
In April 2015, on a map near the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, the imagery of the Android logo urinating on the Apple logo was added via Map Maker and appeared on Google Maps. In June 2012, Google started mapping the UK’s rivers and canals in partnership with the Canal and River Trust. This provides Google with local map updates almost in real-time instead of waiting for digital map data companies to release more infrequent updates. On April 19, 2011, Map Maker was added to the American version of Google Maps, allowing any viewer to edit and add changes to Google Maps. In October 2009, Google replaced Tele Atlas as their primary supplier of geospatial data in the US version of Maps and used their own data.
Incorrect location naming
The program is partially a successor to Google Map Maker as features from the former program became integrated into the website and app. Google Local Guides is a volunteer program launched by Google Maps to enable users to contribute to Google Maps when registered. In May 2024, Google announced it would discontinue the chat feature in Google Business Profile. Google allows business owners to create and verify their own business data through Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly Google My Business (GMB). Lens in Maps shares features with Live View, which also displays information relating to street features while guiding a user to a selected destination with virtual arrows, signs and guidance.
In June 2023, a feature called WhatsApp Channels was launched which allows content creators, public figures and organizations to send newsletter-like broadcasts to large numbers of users. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants. In October 2023, support for logging in to multiple (meaning two) accounts was added, allowing users to switch between different WhatsApp accounts in the same app. Now, the feature is also made available to iOS users, allowing them to link up to four iPhones. In July 2021 the company was also testing multi-device support, allowing Computer users to run WhatsApp without an active phone session.
Genuine business owners can also optimize their business listings to gain greater visibility in Google Maps, through a type of search engine marketing called local search engine optimization. In Australia in particular, genuine companies and businesses are noticing a trend of fake business listings in a variety of industries. They place keywords and location details on their Google Maps business title, which can overtake credible business listings. Google Maps can be manipulated by businesses that are not physically located in the area in which they record a listing.
WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters, but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the official website, and further requests for comment were declined. Open Whisper Systems said that they had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android, and that support for other clients, group/media messages, and key verification would be coming soon after. On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in Signal into each WhatsApp client platform. When a user sends a message, it is stored on a WhatsApp server, which tries to forward it to the addressee, and repeatedly requests acknowledgement of receipt.
- Google has partnered globally with over 800 public transportation providers to adopt GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), making the data available to third parties.
- Visual effects also became available, adding visual filters to a user’s video feed.
- In November 2024, the ability to transcribe voice messages was added, allowing users to read out what was said in a voice message, rather than listening to the audio.
A personal device of the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had been compromised by a security breach, and it was claimed that it could not be switched on to recover messages. This new encryption feature added an additional layer of protection to chat backups stored either on Apple iCloud or Google Drive. The new privacy policy would not apply within the EU, as it is illegal under the GDPR. On December 16, 2020, a claim that WhatsApp gave Google access to private messages was included in the anti-trust case against the latter. In its revelation via documents received from court, the group claimed that the lawsuit brought against the company by WhatsApp threatened to infringe on its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”. The bug was discovered by Check Point in August 2019 and reported to WhatsApp.
In November 2016, Google announced the discontinuation of Google Map Maker as of March 2017. Some concerns were expressed about the privacy issues raised by the use of the service. The body of water was not labelled on the map; Iran said Google would see “serious damages” if the gulf was not named on the map. In 2012, BBC News reported that Google was facing potential legal action from Iran for its lack of a naming label for the Persian Gulf on Google Maps.
VoiceOver
In August 2018, Google Maps designed its overall view (when zoomed out completely) into a 3D globe droppingdisputed – discuss the Mercator projection that projected the planet onto a flat surface. This change consolidated the 18 different endpoints into three services and merged the basic and premium plans into one pay-as-you-go plan. In May 2018, Google announced major changes to the API structure starting June 11, 2018.
The version of Google Street View for classic Google Maps required Adobe Flash. The site also uses protocol buffers for data transfer rather than JSON, for performance reasons. Like many other Google web applications, Google Maps uses JavaScript extensively. The program consists of adding reviews, photos, basic information, and videos; and correcting information such as wheelchair accessibility. An Android app for My Maps, initially released in March 2013 under the name Google Maps Engine Lite, was available until its removal from the Play Store in October 2021. Google encourages owners of public facilities to submit floor plans of their buildings in order to add them to the service.
Later in September 2018, WhatsApp introduced group audio and video call features. Voice calls between two accounts were added to the app in March and April 2015. Edited messages were tagged as “edited” to inform recipients that the content had been modified. In October 2018, the “Swipe to Reply” option was added to the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS.
As the complaint was heavily redacted due to being an ongoing case, it did not disclose whether this was alleged tampering with the app’s end-to-end encryption, or Google accessing user backups.clarification needed When a user deletes media for everyone, WhatsApp does not delete images saved in the iOS camera roll and pin up online casino so those users are able to keep the images. In November 2020, UPI payments via WhatsApp were initially restricted to 20 million users, and to 100 million users in April 2022, and became generally available to everyone in August 2022.
Version 2.0 of Google Maps Mobile was announced at the end of 2007, with a stand out My Location feature to find the user’s location using the cell towers, without needing GPS. For areas where Google used Tele Atlas data, map errors could be reported using Tele Atlas map insight. On August 9, 2013, this service was discontinued, and on March 22, 2017, Google incorporated the features from Latitude into the Google Maps app. Google Latitude was a feature that let users share their physical locations with other people.