Updated WhatsApp for Android available for download; brings '1 century' mute and more

WhatsApp, a popular messaging service, has started rolling-out a new update for Android devices, though the company has not detailed the exact changes along with availability of the apk file on its site. The updated app is not yet listed on the Google Play in India. The update is seen to be focussed on the group messaging feature and quicker image sharing function.

As per the update, version 2.11.230 for Android, WhatsApp has extended the 'mute' time of groups from the existing options of 8 hours, 1 day and 1 week, to 1 month, 1 year and even 1 century.

The users will also be able to completely deactivate the group notifications. Until now, the users have been receiving silent notifications from the 'muted' group, but the update's new 'Show Notification' feature would completely disable them and would not show them in the device's notification tray.

Apart from this, the WhatsApp v2.11.230 also brings a new camera icon besides the voice-message icon, tapping on which would lead users straight to the handset's camera feature for easier click-and-share functionality. This would eliminate the cumbersome process of going through the attachments icon and then tapping on the camera icon.

Last month, WhatsApp rolled out an update (version 2.11.186) for its Android app that bought new privacy settings to devices running Android v2.1 and higher. The update brought the option to hide the 'last seen' notification, profile photo and status through privacy settings. The update also adds an option to share/save profile photo/group icon and the service payment feature, which lets users pay for their friends' WhatsApp service.