> I can't help but wonder how many lives this feature has ruined.

and relationships

This seems like a stretch to me. I agree this feature is unnecessary and invasive. But why would it destroy relationships?

It doesn't take much imagination to come up with a hypothetical scenario. Person is writing to their partner but receiving no reply, however they can see that their partner has been online for the past 30 minutes. Person is convinced that their partner is talking to that one guy from the gym.

I have definitely been called out for being online but not replying, so I can easily imagine how that can end up becoming a big drama in some relationships.

Maybe you have a crazy manager. They see you were online when you were meant to be working. They use this to justify their thoughts you’re lazy. Who knows?

Just go ahead and see on playstore how many people are using whatsapp status tracker app. Also read reviews and you will know.

I think its deliberately kept open. There are 100s of apps in play store that can help in predicting if 2 people in your contacts are in conversation.

People like keeping watch on others and Facebook is exploiting that.