There's another alternative for this, with a lot cooler features
https://gbplus.net/download-gbwhatsapp-apk/Using this, you can change the theme of WhatsApp, hide your online status, read deleted messages, remove blue ticks for "only" your messages, and a lot more.
The only concern for a sceptic would be that it doesn't use the official app, and is downloaded from an external source. I've been using it for about a year now without any issues.