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WhatsApp has rolled out a new Status feature recently, and you must have already noticed it. It is the Status tab between Chat and Calls tab on the home screen of WhatsApp. It is inspired by the Snapchat feature which rose to popularity due to this feature. Coming back to WhatsApp, under Status tab, you can see the temporary statuses and updates of your WhatsApp friends that they put up for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the statuses will get deleted automatically.
A person can upload multiple statuses within 24 hours, and when the friends will view it, the multiple statuses will be seen sequentially like an animation. You can expect the same feature on Instagram and Facebook Messenger as all these apps are owned by Facebook just like WhatsApp. If you think the Status tab is useless for you, you can turn it off or disabled easily.
Pre-Requirements
The feature is a server-side feature now and unless you have the old WhatsApp version 2.17.81 or anything older, no one can disable it except the guys working at WhatsApp. In those older versions, there is a local variable named status_mode that can help you disable the Status feature.
Your device has to be rooted for the entire process to execute smoothly because of a root file com.whatsapp.preferences.xml has to be modified. Therefore, you will also require a file explorer that is capable of accessing the root folder. Another app you need to install is Preferences Manager and to install the app, your device must be rooted.
Steps To Turn Off or Disable WhatsApp Status Feature
Step 1. Download WhatsApp v2.17.81 from APKMirror and install it by enabling Unknown Sources. Similarly, download and install Preferences Manager.
Step 2. Go to Settings>Apps> WhatsApp and hit the Force Stop button to close it forcefully.
Step 3. Open file explorer and go to data/data/com.whatsapp/shared_prefs/ and find the file named com.whatsapp.preferences.xml. Open the file in a text editor.
Or, launch the Preferences Manager app and grant superuser permission and find WhatsApp in the list of installed apps. Tap on it and com.whatsapp.preferences.xml will open automatically.
Step 4. Search for status_mode key in the file and you should get like the following.
<int name="status_mode" value="1"/>
Now, you have to change the value=”1” to value=”0”. It should look like this.
<int name="status_mode" value="0"/>
Step 5. Save the changes made and close the file. Now, launch WhatsApp and you will not see the Status tab on the home screen. If you want to bring it back, you have to repeat the step and change the value from 0 to 1.
