MAC OS VERSION LIST WITH FOUNDER

Classic Mac OS

Macintosh System Software (0 - 0.5)

• System 0.85 (128k)
• System 1.0 (128k / 512k) (also numbered System 0.97)
• System 1.1 (128k / 512k)

System File 2

• System 2.0 (128k / 512k)

System Software with HD20 Support

• System 2.1 (128k / 512k with HD20)

Macintosh System Software 0.7

System File 3

• System 3.0 (128k / 512k / 512ke / Plus)

System Software 1

System File 3

• System 3.1 (128k / 512k / 512ke / Plus)
• System 3.2 (128k / 512k / 512ke / Plus)
• System 3.3 (128k / 512k / 512ke / Plus)
• System 3.4 (128k / 512k / 512ke / Plus)

System Software 2

System File 4

• System 4.0 (512k+)
• System 4.1 (Plus+)

System Software 5

System File 4

• System 4.2 (Plus+)
• System 4.3 (Plus+)

System Software 6

• System 6.0.0 (68k)
• System 6.0.1 (68k)
• System 6.0.2 (68k)
• System 6.0.3 (68k)
• System 6.0.4 (68k) "Antares"
• System 6.0.5 (68k) "Big Deal"
• System 6.0.6 "SixPack" -- never released due to AppleTalk bug
• System 6.0.7 (68k)
• System 6.0.8 (68k) "Terminator"
• System 6.0.8L -- never officially released from Apple

System Software 7 "Blue"

AKA "Big Bang," "M80," "Pleiades"

"System" designation

Regular Systems

• System 7.0 (68k) "Furnishings 2000"
• System 7.0.1 (68k) "Road Warrior," "Beta Cheese"
• System 7.1 (68k) "Cube-E", "I Tripoli"
• System 7.1.1 (68k) (aka System 7 Pro) "Jirocho"
• System 7.1.2 (PPC)
• System 7.1.2P (68040)
• System 7.5 (68k / PPC) "Mozart," "Capone"

Performa Systems

• System 7.0.1P (68k)
• System 7.1P (68k)
• System 7.1P1 (68k)
• System 7.1P2 (68k)
• System 7.1P3 (68k)
• System 7.1P4 (68k)
• System 7.1P5 (68k)
• System 7.1P6 (68k)
• System 7.5 (68k / PPC) "Mozart," "Capone"

"Mac OS" designation

• Mac OS 7.5.1 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC)
• Mac OS 7.5.2 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC) "Marconi"
• Mac OS 7.5.3 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC) "Unity"
• Mac OS 7.5.3L (Specific 68k hardware)
• Mac OS 7.5.3 Revision 2 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC) "Son of Buster"
• Mac OS 7.5.3 Revision 2.1 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC)
• Mac OS 7.5.3 Revision 2.2 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC)
• Mac OS 7.5.4 -- never offically released from Apple
• Mac OS 7.5.5 (24/32-bit 68k / PPC)
• Mac OS 7.6 (32-bit 68k / PPC) "Harmony"
• Mac OS 7.6.1 (32-bit 68k / PPC) "Ides of Buster"

Mac OS 8 "Tempo"

• Mac OS 8.0 (32-bit 68k / PPC)
• Mac OS 8.1 (32-bit 68k / PPC) "Bride of Buster"
• Mac OS 8.5 (PPC) "Allegro"
• Mac OS 8.5.1 (PPC)
• Mac OS 8.6 (PPC) "Veronica"

Mac OS 9 "Sonata"

• Mac OS 9.0.0 (PPC All)
• Mac OS 9.0.2 (PPC All)
• Mac OS 9.0.3 (PPC All)
• Mac OS 9.0.4 (PPC All)
• Mac OS 9.1 (PPC with MMU)
• Mac OS 9.2.0 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS 9.2.1 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS 9.2.2 (PPC G3+)

External Links

• Wikipedia: History of Mac OS: System 1-4

Mac OS X

Mac OS X Server

OS X Server 10.7 and later are software add-ons to the base OS, and do not get their own releases

Mac OS X Developer Preview

• Mac OS X DP 1
• Mac OS X DP 2 "Titan"
• Mac OS X DP 3
• Mac OS X DP 4

Mac OS X Public Beta "Kodiak"

OS X Public Beta runs on stock PowerMac G3 and G4 computers with 128MB RAM and their internal clock set to between September 13, 2000 and May 15, 2001.

Mac OS X 10.0 "Cheetah"

• Mac OS X 10.0.0 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.0.1 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.0.2 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.0.3 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.0.4 (PPC G3+)

Mac OS X 10.1 "Puma"

• Mac OS X 10.1.0 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.1.1 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.1.2 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.1.3 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.1.4 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.1.5 (PPC G3+)

Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar"

• Mac OS X 10.2.0 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.1 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.2 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.3 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.4 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.5 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.6 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.7 (PPC G3+)
• Mac OS X 10.2.8 (PPC G3+)

Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther"

• Mac OS X 10.3.0 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.1 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.2 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.3 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.4 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.5 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.6 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.7 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.8 (PPC New World)
• Mac OS X 10.3.9 (PPC New World)

Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"

• Mac OS X 10.4.0 (PPC)
• Mac OS X 10.4.1 (PPC)
• Mac OS X 10.4.2 (PPC)
• Mac OS X 10.4.3 (PPC)
• Mac OS X 10.4.4 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.5 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.6 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.7 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.8 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.9 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.10 (PPC/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.4.11 (PPC/Intel)

Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"

• Mac OS X 10.5.0 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.1 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.2 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.3 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.4 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.5 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.6 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.7 (PPCG4+/Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.5.8 (PPCG4+/Intel)

Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard"

• Mac OS X 10.6.0 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.1 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.2 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.3 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.4 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.5 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.6 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.7 (Intel + Rosetta)
• Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Intel + Rosetta)

After Mac OS X 10.6, all OS installs are provided via download.

Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion"

• Mac OS X 10.7.0 (Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.7.1 (Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.7.2 (Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.7.3 (Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.7.4 (Intel)
• Mac OS X 10.7.5 (Intel)

Mac OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion"

• Mac OS X 10.8.0
• Mac OS X 10.8.1
• Mac OS X 10.8.2
• Mac OS X 10.8.3
• Mac OS X 10.8.4
• Mac OS X 10.8.5

OS X 10.9 "Mavericks"

• OS X 10.9.0
• OS X 10.9.1
• OS X 10.9.2
• OS X 10.9.3
• OS X 10.9.4
• OS X 10.9.5

OS X 10.10 "Yosemite"

• OS X 10.10.0 public beta
• OS X 10.10.0
• OS X 10.10.1
• OS X 10.10.2
• OS X 10.10.3
• OS X 10.10.4
• OS X 10.10.5

Current Version:

OS X 10.11 "El Capitan"

• OS X 10.11.0 public beta
• OS X 10.11.0
• OS X 10.11.1
• OS X 10.11.2
• OS X 10.11.3
• OS X 10.11.4

macOS 10.12 "Sierra"

• macOS Sierra preview
• macOS 10.12.0

TYPES OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

Private cloud.

The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.

Community cloud.

The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.

Public cloud.

The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud.

The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).

SEARCH ENGINES

1. Google – No need for further introductions. The search engine giant holds the first place in search with a stunning difference of 45% from second in place Bing. According to the latest comscore report (October 2012) 69.5% of searches were powered by Google and 25% by Bing. Google is also dominating the mobile/tablet search engine market share with 89%!
2. Bing – Bing is Microsoft’s attempt to challenge Google in the area of search but despite their efforts they still did not manage to convince users that their search engine can produce better results than Google.
3. Yahoo – Since October 2011 Yahoo search is powered by Bing. Yahoo is still the most popular email provider and according to reports holds the third place in search.
4.  Ask.com – Formerly known as Ask Jeeves, Ask.com receives approximately 3% of the search share. ASK is based on a question/answer format where most questions are answered by other users or are in the form of polls. It also has the general search functionality but the results returned lack quality compared to Google or even Bing and Yahoo.
5. AOL.com – According to netmarketshare the old time famous AOL is still in the top 10 search engines with a market share that is close to 0.6%. The AOL network includes many popular web sites like engadget.com, techchrunch.com and the huffingtonpost.com.
6. Blekko.com – Blekko.com was developed by ex-Googlers and they present themselves as the “spam free search engine”.  It is better suited for webmasters and SEO’s who need more data for SEO purposes rather than normal users.
7. Wolframalpha – wolframalpha is different that all the other search engines. They market it as a Computational Knowledge Engine which can give you facts and data for a number of topics. It can do all sorts of calculations, for example if you enter  “mortgage 2000” as input it will calculate your loan amount, interest paid etc. based on a number of assumptions.
8. DuckDuckGo – Has a number of advantages over the other search engines. It has a clean interface, it does not track users, it is not fully loaded with ads and has a number of very nice features (only one page of results, you can search directly other web sites etc). I am sure that some of the features of duckduckgo will be used by other search engines and with some proper funding duckduckgo can get a decent search engine market share.
9. WayBackMachine – archive.org is the internet archive search engine. You can use it to find out how a web site looked since 1996. It is very useful tool if you want to trace the history of a domain and examine how it has changed over the years.
10. ChaCha.com – According to alexa chacha.com is the 8^th most popular search engine with a ranking position of 297 in the US. It is similar to ask.com where users can ask or answer a particular question. They also have a number of quizzes that can help you decide on a number of topics. It’s not bad at all and the answers are precise and to the point. For example if you search “What is the best search engine?” you will get an answer that Google is the best and most popular search engine and Yahoo is on the second place.

These are the 10 best and most popular search engines on the Internet today. The list is by no means complete and for sure many more will be created in the future but as far as the first places are concerned, Google and Bing will hold the lead positions for years to come.

FACEBOOK MESSENGER

Messenger tests end-to-end encryption

July 8, 2016 - Messenger will soon have end-to-end encryption similar to that of WhatsApp, after Facebook announced that it is currently testing the service. In a post published in its newsroom, details of the tests included one-to-one 'secret' conversations that can only be read on the devices they're sent between. These messages will be stored on the devices and not on Facebook's servers.
Another feature of secret conversations is the ability to set a timer that will automatically delete messages, a feature popularized by Snapchat. Facebook said that secret conversations will be an optional feature that can only be viewed on one device, that which received the message; this is a limitation of the encryption and the only way to ensure absolute privacy. A broader release is planned for sometime later this summer.

A 'secret' conversation mode is coming to Messenger. / © FB newsroom

June 15, 2016 - SMS messages have now been integrated into the Facebook Messenger Android app, Facebook announced on its website. Instead of using a separate messaging app for SMS conversations, users have the option of including these texts in the Messenger app. SMS messages will appear in purple while Facebook messages will appear in the traditional blue. In addition, SMS in messenger supports rich content such as stickers, emojis, GIFS and more.
"We hope that this new choice will bring the convenience of being able to access all your messages in one place, making your messaging a lot simpler and helping you stay on top of your conversations," said Facebook.
This feature isn't enabled by default, you must go to the settings menu in the Facebook Messenger app, tap SMS and then enable Default SMS app.
Responding to why this feature wasn't in place on iOS, Facebook said, "iOS doesn't currently support app permissions for accessing text messages/SMS." Another win for Android.

Read SMS in Facebook Messenger. / © Facebook

April 21, 2016 - Facebook has announced that you can now carry out group calls on Facebook Messenger. Within any group conversation, just press on the phone icon to initiate a group call. The service is currently equipped to handle up to 50 people, suggesting a clear line of sight on this being used in the workplace. No word yet on whether this feature will be expanded to provide a video service, but with the feature in the works for WhatsApp, it seems safe to assume it will arrive sooner or later.
April 7, 2016 - A series of business-friendly updates are rolling out to Facebook Messenger over the next few weeks, the company announced, preparing the app for its dream of providing a cohesive way for businesses and their clients to communicate.
These changes amount to more visible page usernames, shortened Messenger links and Messenger codes (like QR codes) that open chats with a business, and preset Messenger greetings that appear when a chat window is opened.

The new additions to Facebook Messenger, centered on making it more business-friendly. / © Facebook

March 9, 2016 - Facebook Messenger has received Material Design, first introduced with Android Lollipop. This comes from a Tweet from David Marcus, the head of Facebook Messenger.
The user experience will not be affected as this is a purely cosmetic update. The blue bars at the top of the screen have a cleaner look. There is more space in the app which gives it a roomier feel. There is a new blue plus button that will serve as a way to start a new conversation. You can see the new design below.

Facebook Messenger now comes with Google's Material Design. / © Facebook

February 11, 2016 - Facebook has begun testing some very notable new additions to Facebook Messenger, the first in some time.
The first new feature follows closely in the footsteps of Messenger's photo-sharing sister, Instagram. Multiple account support means that your friends can use your phone to check their Facebook messages, and people who use the social networking platform for work purposes will be able to switch between professional and personal accounts with much greater ease.
The other big change is SMS integration. This feature appeared on the Messenger app in 2012 but was removed after about a year due to low user take-up. Well, now it's back, in a testing phase, at least.

I'm in Germany and was fortunate enough to receive multiple account support. / © ANDROIDPIT

Facebook is testing these new features on an undisclosed number of devices, and there's no word on when or even whether we can expect to see a full roll out.
You can find out if you're one of the lucky ones by going to Settings > Accounts and seeing if there's a plus button at the top right of the screen that'll let you add extra accounts. If you've been gifted with SMS support, there should be an SMS option in the Settings menu.
June 25, 2015 - You can now sign up for Messenger without a Facebook account. To do so, you simply have to tap the 'Not on Facebook?' option on the welcome screen. All you need to enter is your name and phone number and add a picture. The option opens up the world of Messenger to people who don't use Facebook, which seems like a sensible addition for Facebook to have made at this point in time.
The benefits of using the service with a Facebook account are still evident, however, as it allows instant access to all your Facebook friends and messages and it allows cross-device access. If you only have a Messenger account, the app works more like WhatsApp.

ANDROID MOBILE PHONES WHATSAPP UPDATES

WhatsApp adds a new interface for messages from unknown numbers

June 28, 2016: While we continue to wait patiently for video calls to make their way to WhatsApp, a small change has been made to the WhatsApp UI. In version 2.16.139 of the app, when you receive a message from an unknown number, a slightly modified interface now appears. The options are to report spam, block, and add to contacts. The feature itself is not new, rather the appearance has changed. As always, you can press on add to contacts then new to save the number to your phone book, if you trust the sender.

A new interface lets you decide what to do with unknown numbers. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp gets persistent notification for web client

May 20, 2016: WhatsApp 2.16.90 beta has one feature that really stands out: a persistent notification that appears when the web client is active. While the move makes sense from a privacy and security perspective (in case you forget you've left the web client open or someone opens it while you're away from your computer), the notification appears at the top of the screen as though you have a message,  and there's no way to disable it without disabling all notifications from WhatsApp.
By pressing on the notification, you are given the option to log out from all active web sessions.
Whether the notification will feature in the next stable release remains to be seen, but hopefully, if it does, there will be added options to disable it.

The new persistent notification for when the WhatsApp web client is in use. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp video calling spotted in beta app update

May 17, 2016: WhatsApp's rumored video calling feature has been spotted in a beta app update. Available for a short time in the Play Store, some users with WhatsApp version 2.16.80 could see video calling options in the app, though they couldn't actually make any calls.
We suspect that the final implentation of this feature could be on its way shortly. For more, head to our original news story at the link and check out the interface in the image below.

Is this what WhatsApp's video calls feature will look like? / © fonearena

WhatsApp adds rich text formatting, reply from notification shade, more

April 30, 2016: WhatsApp has migrated several features from the beta version of WhatsApp to the final version and added some previously unseen ones, too.
Firstly, all users can now use and view bold, italic and strikethrough text. You can use these with the following special characters: *bold*, _italics_ and ~strikethrough~.

Rich text formatting has now moved from beta to final.. / © ANDROIDPIT

You can now also reply to messages quickly from within a notification, set block colors as chat backgrounds, and tap the quick camera button in a chat window to browse your camera roll.
Finally, there's the option to archive, delete or mute multiple chats at once. A long press on a chat in the Chats tab will select it, and then you can tap on other chats to select multiple entries. The controls for archiving, deleting and muting remain the same.
If you're fully up to date, your WhatsApp will be sitting on version 2.16.57, but updates take a while to fully roll out sometimes, so remain patient.

WhatsApp adds end-to-end encryption on all its platforms

April 5, 2016: Things have been heating up in the tech security world, so it's high time to hop into the encryption pool. Following closely in the footsteps of Apple's conflict with the FBI over a locked iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino gunmen and an almost entirely united front from the tech world on the issue, WhatsApp has now expanded its end-to-end encryption across all its platforms, covering all forms of communication – voice calls, videos and chats involving multiple people.

Nietzsche demonstrates the message users now see, verifying their communication are encrypted. / © Open Whispher Systems

This move from WhatsApp results in extremely strong protection for its users. And that's end-to-end encryption for over one billion people. let's not forget. WhatsApp will no longer allow unencrypted messages to be sent.
End-to-end encryption means that any data transferred can be read only be the sender and the receiver. In the space between them, the data is heavily encrypted. Even WhatsApp employees couldn't decipher the information if they wished to.
Some data does, however, remain unencrypted. The date and time stamp of messages, as well as phone numbers, may still be gathered.

WhatsApp beta tests text formatting include bold and italics

March 11, 2016: The latest beta version of WhatsApp has introduced bold and italics to the text formatting options. By using asterisks on either side of a word or phrase you can bold it and underscores can be used to add italics.
WhatsApp has extended the formatting to the notification shade bar, too, where you will see senders' names show up in bold and any formatting that has been used in the message will be displayed.
This is currently only in the beta version of the app, but a full rollout seems likely. However, if you want to receive this feature now, along with future beta versions of the app, then you can sign up to become a WhatsApp beta tester here.

WhatsApp gives the Settings screen a makeover

March 8, 2016: WhatsApp has given its Settings menu a shakeup in this update. Not only has it been changed aesthetically, but there are also some small intuitive changes, too. For example, Account has been moved to the top of the list and Data Usage has received its own top-level option. The Payment info  option has now, given the removal of a subscription fee, been dropped entirely from the menu. Also, on the Profile page, your picture will now appear in a circle, where normally it was a square.

The old (left) and new Settings menu. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp adds link copying, document sharing and granular chat clearing options

March 2, 2016: Throughout a spate of minor updates, WhatsApp has seen several new features added.
Firstly, there is now the option to long press on a link to copy it. Previously, this was a nuisance, as you had to copy the entire message within which the link was contained and then paste that and edit it down to the link. Now a simply long press lets you copy just the URL, as you would normally do in every other app ever.
It's now been made extremely easy to share documents (.pdfs) in a conversation. Just press the paperclip then Document and choose the file you wish to share.
On the media page for a conversation, a new tab has also been added that contains a history of all the documents that have been shared in a conversation or group chat.
The final notable addition is granular control over how much of a conversation you delete. Instead of just clearing out a chat entirely, you can now choose whether to delete everything or just messages older than 30 days, or messages older than six months.

Two of the new features WhatsApp has seen added recently. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp finalizes update with new emoji, Google Drive backups and more

February 17, 2016: Although almost of all of these features have been seen at some time or another on a huge number of devices, it seems WhatsApp has now finalized the addition of over 100 new emoji (as detailed below), Google Drive chat log backups (as also detailed below), Marshmallow permissions (notably, that WhatsApp will now ask when it wants to use your microphone, rather than having permission to use it at all times), and support for Kazakh, Tagalog, Uzbek, Marathi and Malayalam languages.
The version number for this update is 2.12.453.

WhatsApp drops subscription fee

January 18, 2016: WhatsApp announced, via its blog, that it is starting to remove fees from all versions of the app and will no longer be charging any money for use of the service. The change may take a few weeks to come into effect for some users, and if you are charged in the meantime, there is nothing for it but to pay.
In reply to theoretical questions regarding the insertion of third-party ads to make up for the loss of income, WhatsApp says it doesn't plan to introduce such a measure. Instead, the company has plans to allow companies to pay to use the service to contact users directly, if users consent to being contacted. WhatsApp gives the example of being able to contact an airline regarding a delayed flight.

WhatsApp adds slew of new emoji

December 6, 2015: Version 2.12.374 saw the addition of a host of new emojis. To accommodate the influx, WhatsApp also added several new category tabs: a bulb, flag, football and beverage. Among the new emojis are the fabled unicorn, the loathsome spider and the celebratory champagne bottle.
Take advantage of these new modes of expression by waiting patiently for the update to automatically arrive via the Google Play Store, or download it directly from APKMirror or WhatsApp.

WhatsApp lets you star messages to view later

November 3, 2015: Version 2.12.338 beta adds the ability to 'star' certain messages, so you can easily locate and read them at a later point. This is particularly useful, and arguably long overdue, given how long and confusing WhatsApp conversations can get.
To use the feature, you will need to download the WhatsApp beta APK and load it onto your phone. Then you can simply long-press on any message and press the star icon that appears. All your starred messages are then collated in their own dedicated starred messages section.
The new beta version also includes support for document files, such as PDFs, which you can also specifically search for now, too.
Download the latest version of WhatsApp from the official website.

You can now star messages, and view them on a separate screen. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp rich previews for URLs and extra 'clear chat' options

October 20, 2015: Version 2.12.323 brings URL previews, although they are limited to a small image and a snippet of text, and currently only visible to the sender. They aslo don't work on image links – just regular URLs – so there's still plenty for WhatsApp to iron out. This feature is currently in the beta version, so we're sure there'll be many more small updates in the next few weeks, downloadable from the WhatsApp webpage or APK Mirror.
The 'clear chat' option in any chat window now has an expanded set of options. Instead of just clearing the entire chat, you can now choose to delete all messages, messages older than 30 days, or messages older than six months.

WhatsApp now allows Google Drive backups

October 8, 2015: Version 2.12.306 of WhatsApp includes the ability to back up your WhatsApp chat history, voice messages, photos, and videos to Google Drive. It had been possible to make local backups for a while, but that didn't help if your phone was lost, stolen or broken. Now, you can back up everything up to the cloud, in safely encrypted form, and easily restore it all at any time. This feature is expected to take a few months to roll out to all WhatsApp users, but keep an eye on the updates and you should receive a prompt to set up the Google Drive backup once it's ready.

Mark WhatsApp messages as read/unread

August 25, 2015: You also have the option to mark a conversation as read, without even going into it. Simply long press the chat on the main screen and a pop up menu will appear. right down the bottom you'll see the option for 'Mark as Read'. You can do this in reverse too and long press to 'Mark as Unread' so you don't forget to return to a message later.

Simpy long-press an unread message to mark it as read. Long-pressing a read message marks it as unread. / © ANDROIDPIT

Use Google Now to send a WhatsApp message

July 29, 2015: This isn't strictly an update to the WhatsApp app, but it could affect how you interact with it. You can now use a Google Now voice command to send a WhatsApp message to one of your contacts, just say "Ok Google, send a WhatsApp message to [contact name]." You will then be prompted to dictate the message you want to send. 
Alternatively, you can record it all in one statement, such as "Ok, Google, send WhatsApp message to Malcolm, I'm still in love with you," or something else.
If you're new to Google Now voice commands, hit the link to see a list of what else can be achieved with Google's handy personal assistant.

You can now send WhatsApp messages with Google Now. / © ANDROIDPIT

WhatsApp calls low data usage

July 22, 2015: The low data usage option can be found in the Chats and Calls menu within WhatsApps settings. It affects how much mobile data is consumed during WhatsApp calls. This could be an excellent addition for those who often make calls using mobile data, although we don't yet know to what extent it reduces the data consumed.

Add custom notifications to WhatsApp contacts

July 22, 2015: Feel free to add custom notifications to your contacts now too. Simply open a contact's profile page and you'll see you've also got a setting for Custom Notifications. Tap it and check the box to activate the options, then choose custom notification sounds, notification colors, popup actions and more.