WhatsApp is going back to the past for its latest feature. In fact, it’s going back as far as reviving the WhatsApp feature in the first place. You can think of About (the creators weren’t really very good at naming things, huh?) as the WhatsApp version of a status update or Aim Away message. It’s designed to let your contacts know at a glance what you’re up to, like something that’s keeping you busy and might be making you slow to respond to messages.
The About message appears on your profile and at the top of one-on-one chats. By default, the About message will disappear after 24 hours, but you can set it to disappear earlier or persist longer. You can do this by going to the “Set About” option in WhatsApp Settings. You also have control over who can see messages about you – you can limit it to your contacts or allow anyone to see it from your profile.
This is a useful little update that mimics the Notes feature in other apps like Instagram and Facebook. WhatsApp is starting to roll out About (Back) to all users on mobile devices this week.
Illustration of About feature in WhatsApp (Meta)