Whatsapp will soon show you which of your contacts has been online recently

In many parts of the world, WhatsApp is the de facto king of instant messaging apps. Many of us use it for all of our communication needs, be they work or personal. Communication can go beyond reactive needs, and it appears that WhatsApp wants to encourage people to have more proactive conversations. New features have been spotted in the messaging app that gently points users to talk to their recent online contacts.

WABetaInfo has spotted several features in WhatsApp beta releases that would help proactive conversations. For instance, WhatsApp is said to be working on a feature that suggests contacts to chat with. A new section at the bottom of the main chats list will suggest new contacts from the user’s address book that they can start chatting with. This section could point users to talk to people they haven’t talked to before on this platform.

WABetaInfo also spotted that the app could list recent online contacts. When you go to your contacts list to add people to a call, you will see a few recent online contacts that you haven’t interacted with. This isn’t a comprehensive list, and it respects the user’s privacy setting on their online status. But it is still helpful to know if someone has been recently online before you place a call.

It is interesting to see the instant messaging app focus on proactive communications. Apps like Telegram notify users in their main chat list whenever a new contact joins the app, which is very annoying. WhatsApp doesn’t do this, but if these leaked features come to fruition, then you could brace yourself from hearing from people you haven’t spoken to in a while.