Apple Industry News

Meta is working on a WhatsApp guest mode that will let you chat with other people without installing any app or even creating an account.

WABetaInfo, which tracks changes in the WhatsApp Beta releases in search of upcoming new features, spotted guest chats in the latest beta build for Android.

Code strings indicate that the feature will work similarly to FaceTime on the web; you’ll basically create a link to an online chat and guest users will follow the link to open the conversation in their web browser, no app required whatsoever.

WhatsApp guest chats won’t need any app or account

In addition, the guest user does not even need to log in to the online chat with their WhatsApp account. As a matter of fact, no account will be required to use WhatsApp guest chats whatsoever, according to the publication.

Guest chats will be protected with end-to-end encryption, just like regular chats within the WhatsApp app for iOS and Android and on WhatsApp Web, so no one (including WhatsApp) will be able to read your conversations in guest mode.

But there’s a catch. Guest chats will be limited to text messages. Attachments like photos, videos and animated GIFs won’t be allowed in guest mode. The same goes for voice chats, video chats and group chats, which won’t work in guest mode.

This feature could prove particularly useful for businesses, like chats between delivery staff and the customer without revealing any specific phone numbers. On the other hand, it could also prove gold for scammers who will only need to persuade a victim to click a link to accept a chat. We’ll find out soon, as guest mode will arrive for all users in a future WhatsApp update for iOS and Android.

Other WhatsApp features in the works

Meta has also been working on another potentially super-cool feature, the ability to exchange chats with other messaging apps and protocols, including Google Messages, Apple iMessage, Telegram, Signal and others.

This capability is being developed to comply with the European Union’s interoperability requirement as part of the Digital Markets Act. It’s unclear if Meta plans to restrict this feature to the European Union or roll it out internationally.

Another new feature in the works will permit you to schedule reminders for a specific message; doing so will ensure you receive a push notification so you don’t forget about important follow-up replies.

Other upcoming WhatsApp capabilities being tested include threaded message replies for more structured conversations, especially in busy group chats, switching between two different WhatsApp accounts without using WhatsApp Business for a second account, using WhatsApp with a username to avoid revealing your actual mobile phone number, and more.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/05/meta-whatsapp-guest-chats-mode/

Do you spend too much time using ChatGPT, or perhaps you’ve becoming too depending on it to think for you instead of thinking for yourself? These are just some of the dangers that artificial intelligence poses to humanity, and OpenAI seems particularly aware of it. That’s why the team announced upcoming changes to ChatGPT on Monday that strive to support healthier use of the platform.

Among those changes are reminders to put ChatGPT down after long chatting sessions to encourage breaks, improved responses for people who show signs of struggling emotionally or mentally, and providing more helpful responses to personal challenges that let you, the user, think things through instead of being fed a yes-or-no answer.

In terms of support during emotional or mental struggles, OpenAI will be making improvements so that ChatGPT responds appropriately to those struggles and points people in the right direction. As far as solving personal challenges goes, OpenAI says that users shouldn’t depend on a program to decide personal things like “should I break up with my boyfriend?” Instead, ChatGPT should weigh pros and cons and let the user decide.

Since people spend a lot more time using ChatGPT than they need to, whether it’s for daily tasks or just to kill some time, OpenAI wants to incorporate a new pop-up that occasionally reminds users when they should consider stepping away and taking a break from the conversation with ChatGPT.

OpenAI says that they’ve tapped the expertise of psychiatrists, pediatricians, general practitioners, human-computer-interaction researchers, clinicians, mental health experts, and youth development experts, to take a valid and calculated approach to improving the way people interact with ChatGPT.

The focus here seems to be making people less dependent on artificial intelligence, namely ChatGPT, to answer their life’s questions and do life’s work; rather, ChatGPT should be a resource that helps its users power through activities, not a dependency that people forget how to live without.

While OpenAI’s work to improve ChatGPT in this regard is ongoing, it speaks to a bigger problem in artificial intelligence that seems to be growing. People are using it for just about everything in their lives already, and this may only get exponentially worse as time marches on.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/04/openai-healthier-use-of-chatgpt/