One of the reasons people turn to WhatsApp clones like GBWhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus is the flurry of features they offer over the official WhatsApp version found in the Google Play Store.
Several people use GBWhatsApp and co. because of the feature that is downloading WhatsApp statuses of their friends. WhatsApp status was introduced in 2017, but there is no direct way of downloading the status (photos and videos) shared by someone for the purposes of re-sharing with your friends on other social media platforms on the fly.
However, now that WhatsApp is cracking down on the clones that offer this feature, it isn’t the end of the road. In fact, it has always been possible to download WhatsApp statuses using the official version and we’ll show you how.
- Open the File Manager app on your Android phone.
- Go to Storage and find the WhatsApp folder.
- Open the above folder and tap on Media.
- While inside the Media folder, tap on the 3-dot menu in the top/bottom right corner and then tap on the “Show hidden files” option to reveal more sub-folders.
- Tap on the “Statuses” sub-folder that shows up.
- Inside the above folder are auto-downloaded WhatsApp statuses shared by your friends.
BTW, this little hack should also come in handy if you want to view WhatsApp statuses of your friends without them knowing that you actually did.
Thanks for the tip, Matubia!.
