Furious WhatsApp users threaten to DELETE app over new ‘from Facebook’ loading screen
FACEBOOK has owned Whatsapp for several years now but the popular messaging app has been largely unaffected by this.
However, a new loading screen is now infuriating users who have taken to Twitter to complain.
Really want to delete WhatsApp every time I see this ‘from Facebook’ loading page pic.twitter.com/fUVQ9GJf29
— Jamie Anderson
(@aultered) December 5, 2019
The biggest problems with the new loading page, which appears when you first open the app, seem to be that it states “from Facebook” and takes a bit longer for the app to load.
The message appears in grey and green underneath the WhatsApp logo.
The rest of the loading page is blank and it only appears for a brief second.
Users have been questioning its purpose and are even threatening to delete the app because it annoys them so much.
Nice that they’ve “improved” @WhatsApp such that you have to put up with a loading screen each time you run it
— James Tinmouth (@jtinmouth) December 8, 2019
One man tweeted: “Really want to delete WhatsApp every time I see this ‘from Facebook’ loading page.”
Another said: “Nice that they’ve “improved” @WhatsApp such that you have to put up with a loading screen each time you run it.”
One angry WhatsApp user even tweeted Facebook directly and said: “@WhatsApp @facebook hey can you remove the “from Facebook” tag on the loading screen of WhatsApp, you may have bought the app years ago, but no one wants to be reminded Facebook has anything to do with it.”
We have reached out to Facebook for comment on whether the loading screen is here to stay.
Facebook bought WhatsApp from its original owners back in 2014.
WhatsApp – a quick history
Here's what you need to know...
- WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum – former employees of Yahoo
- It’s one of the most popular messaging services in the world
- Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up”
- After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
- It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
- Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
- The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
- As of January 2018, WhatsApp has over 1.5billion users globally
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In other news, WhatsApp will stop working on millions of phones this month.
WhatsApp’s long-awaited ‘dark mode’ will switch on automatically to boost your phone’s battery life, according to reports.
And, make sure you don’t click this text offering you 1,000GB of free internet.
What are your thoughts on the new loading screen? Let us know in the comments…
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