Regular readers will know that I rarely mention the instant messaging and sharing phenomenon that is WhatsApp, or indeed any other service that insists on tying itself to one phone and SIM card - it's just not practical in the AAWP review office. However, our friends over at Conversations have spotted a big new update to WhatsApp, so see the changelog comments below.

WhatsApp 2.12.112.0 is now available, bringing with it a wide range of new features and the usual under the hood fixes.

From the Conversations piece:

• You can now mark chats as Read or Unread as well as make use of custom notification settings and mute individual chats.
• When you receive a contact card, you can now quickly message or save the contact if they’re also on WhatsApp. You can now enable or disable sound and vibrate for in-app notifications, as well as add a ringtone to WhatsApp calls, something that has been missing for Windows Phone users for some time.
• If you’re a big fan of using emoji in your messages you’ll love the new wider selection, plus the ability to tap and hold the characters to choose a new colour, so adding a more personalised touch to your messages.
• While not as visually interesting, if you’re looking to keep the cost of your chats to a minimum you can now set lower data usage targets during WhatsApp calls by heading into Settings > Chats and Calls.

As ever, all this is free or 'nearly free' ($1 a year). You can download or update WhatsApp here in the Store.

Comments welcome if you use WhatsApp regularly - is the Windows Phone client right up there with the iOS and Android versions? Me, I think I'll stick to Skype - this has its issues, but is essentially baked into the platform now and works via a data-only login and doesn't get tied to a particular SIM card!