WhatsApp to soon allow “alternate profiles”, double tap to forward-rewind videos

The world’s most popular messaging app, WhatsApp, is currently working on a feature that will allow users to use an alternate profile on the app.

The upcoming “Alternate Profile” feature is coming after the recent account switching update that allows users to manage multiple WhatsApp accounts on the same phone.

With the alternate profile feature, you will have the ability to show some users your default profile, while displaying another one to other users.

WhatsApp is apparently also testing a new feature that will allow users to seek a video by double-tapping on the left or right side of the screen.

The alternate profile feature is aimed at giving users more control over their online presence and can be used for personal and professional purposes.

Currently, one can only hide some private information like the last seen status or the profile picture from specific people. Having a second profile will allow users to have a second profile picture and a different account name for a certain group of people.

Here’s how the new feature will work:

Your regular profile is visible to everyone. But, your alternate profile will be private and only visible to the contacts you choose.

In simple words, you can create an alternate profile with a professional image and name. This way, you can keep your personal and professional life separate on the same WhatsApp account.

The feature can be accessed through the privacy settings for your profile picture. You can set up your alternate profile with a different image and name, and WhatsApp will show this alternate profile to the people you’ve chosen, instead of your primary profile.

It should be noted that the feature is only in the development phase and hasn’t been made available to testers yet. This comes right at the heels of the account-switching feature, which makes it easier to use multiple WhatsApp accounts without app cloning or using a second phone.

The second update, which is already being tested, is the ability to seek videos with a double-tap gesture.

The feature tracker has reported that WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.20.20 has added a new video-related feature that beta testers can try out — the ability to seek forwards and backward using gestures. After updating to the latest beta version, users can double-tap on the left and right of the screen instead of dragging the seek bar.