WhatsApp now uses capital O and T in Online and Typing

Typing and online indicators are now capitalized for some

Summary

• WhatsApp is capitalizing the online and typing indicators within chats, a subtle yet significant change for frequent users of the app.
• Not all devices have these capitalized indicators yet, but they could become widely available in a few weeks.
• Meanwhile, WhatsApp beta for Android v2.24.9.12 introduces a new private notes feature for contacts, potentially catering to business needs.

WhatsApp is among the most popular messaging apps in the world today. Its developers are routinely building new functionality or making design adjustments to spice things up. We recently saw WhatsApp introduce a colorless top bar in beta, while it also widely rolled out the swipeable navigation bar not too long ago. Another design change appears to be slowly taking effect now.

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As most WhatsApp users are aware, the app provides indicators like online and typing to let the person on the other end know what they're doing. Over the past few days, multiple WhatsApp users (me included) have noticed that these two typing indicators are now capitalized, showing up as Online and Typing.

Google's Senior Android Developer Relations Engineer, Rebecca Franks, brought this to the world's attention via X/Twitter. A quick look at the replies suggests that it hasn't particularly gone down well with many users. It's worth noting that WhatsApp hasn't officially announced this change just yet.

Capitalized and non-capitalized online/typing indicators on iOS and Android

Not all devices have these capitalized indicators, though (for now). For instance, WhatsApp on my iPhone capitalizes the typing and online indicators, but my Android smartphone still has the lowercase indicators. Since several users are already reporting this change, we expect it to become widely available over the next few weeks unless WhatsApp has a change of heart following the negative reception.

WhatsApp will soon let you attach notes to contacts

The good folks at WABetaInfo have uncovered the ability to attach notes to contacts, courtesy of WhatsApp beta for Android v2.24.9.12. Users are encouraged to "add notes about your customer" inside a text box just below the Audio, Video, and Search buttons in the chat info screen.

While the mention of "customer" suggests that this is a business-centric addition, we don't see why everyday users can't utilize it to add a note or two about a contact. As the onscreen text indicates, these notes are private and will only appear to the user who created them. It's still early days for this particular notes feature, with WABetaInfo saying that it's not yet ready for all beta testers.