Why is WhatsApp status trimmed to 15 seconds & how long will this change last?

Almost three years ago, WhatsApp had introduced a status feature allowing people to share photos and video content which disappeared within 24 hours of posting. At the time, the messaging platform allowed users to post videos from 90 seconds up to three minutes, and if the existing video was bigger than 16 MB, it gave users an option to trim down the length of the video before sharing it.

Soon after, the limit was brought down to 30 seconds. Now, the Facebook-owned company has further reduced the status video limit to just 15 seconds in India. The country currently has more than 400 million users on the platform.

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Why is WhatsApp status trimmed to 15 seconds?

This is a temporary move by WhatsApp that aims to cut strain on internet networks since millions of users have started to share videos on their status after the recent lockdown in the country. This is a server-side change that the company has already started to roll out to stable users and will also come to beta users over time. The company has seen a 40 percent rise in usage globally, according to a new study by data and consulting company, Kantar.

WABetaInfo had posted a tweet on Sunday revealing that WhatsApp has put a time limit on videos shared through the 'Status' feature of the instant messaging app. Here’s the tweet:

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Over the past week, companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Facebook and a number of other video streaming platforms have started reducing their video quality from HD to SD when video content is streamed over cellular data. YouTube has already set Standard Definition - 480p as its default video quality for streaming content globally, including India, until April 14. However, it allows users to change the quality back to HD once a video starts playing.

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Image credits: WhatsApp