Status updates are a pretty common feature in social media and messaging apps and allow one to share images, videos, text captions, and more to let others know what is on their mind. Status updates were popularized by Snapchat through its Stories feature, and WhatsApp added support for them back in 2017.
The current version of WhatsApp has a dedicated Updates tab on the app's home screen where users can view stories and status updates from their contacts, and status updates can also be checked by tapping the profile picture next to a contact's name in the main inbox.
With the latest beta version of the app, WhatsApp is making it even more convenient to check status updates. Tapping the profile icon inside conversations has acted as a back button in WhatsApp for the longest time, but that is set to change: users will soon be able to tap the profile icon inside a conversation to view the contact's stories and updates.
Some users now have access to the option of checking status updates from within conversations with version 2.23.24.23 of the WhatsApp beta app. The option will start appearing for more beta users in the coming days, and it will eventually come to the regular/stable app once WhatsApp is done testing and decides the feature is good to go.