Meta is starting to roll out some new updates, and at the same time, some new features are being tested with beta testers. The updates are currently limited to beta users and will expand to more users in future updates. These improvements will enhance the user’s experience on WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business from the App Store, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or Microsoft Store.
Polls, Documents, and Forwarding Media with Captions
WhatsApp is starting its new update with several new features, including polls, forwarding media with captions, and sharing documents with captions. With the Poll feature, you can add up to three different options and allow users to vote, making it easier to get more varied responses. Next is uploading media. Previously, when you sent media, it showed forwarded media, but now, forwarded media allows users to include captions along with the media they share with others.
Polls and Search for Polls
They can enable a single-vote option. Users can turn off the “allow multiple answers” toggle or enable a single-vote option while creating a poll. It has been improved with the ability to filter messages by polls, similar to the ability to filter messages by photos, videos, or links. Search for the polls while searching for messages. Polls are always up-to-date with responses by notifying users when they vote on their polls.
Sharing Documents and Captions on Forwarded Media
The feature lets users forward media with captions, including information about the document’s content or context. Users can now choose to keep or delete the caption when forwarding photos, videos, and GIFs between chats. Users can also add a message after forwarding media to provide more context with a feature that makes it easier to understand and communicate their intentions while sharing the media with their friends or family members.
Another feature is the Document Sharing Feature, which enables users to add captions to the files they share, making it easier to add captions to the files shared with additional information about the documents. Add a message to images, videos, and GIFs that users do not already have captions without removing the existing caption.
Chat Wallpaper
Apart from the mobile app, there are some new additions to the native Windows WhatsApp. It allows users to customize chat wallpapers. You can update the app from the Microsoft Store. This new update allows users to change the wallpaper of all chats at once, including or excluding the WhatsApp doodle for additional personalization. Additionally, there is an option for users to choose a predefined set of colors. However, choosing a different wallpaper for a specific chat is still impossible, just like our ability on the mobile app. This feature gives users more ability to have personalized conversations.
Autoplay GIFs
This is another one of the most-awaited features. This new feature will automatically play the GIFs within the conversation without the users needing to tap on the GIFs. After this, GIFs will automatically play when the chat is opened. Despite being a minor addition, this is a minor upgrade, and auto-play GIFs are rolling out to more users over the coming days. When users open a chat and scroll through a conversation to any GIFs, GIFs will play automatically, making it more convenient to view them.
Do note that this will only work for the first time in GIFs in conversation and will not work for the second time. They need to tap on GIFs for the second time to play it again.
Play Voice Message
WhatsApp has a new feature that allows users to play voice messages on the desktop. This feature also works outside of WhatsApp. Whenever you play a voice note, you can continue to chat with someone else on WhatsApp, and it will keep playing the voice message. This feature has also been introduced to the WhatsApp mobile app, and now it is available on WhatsApp Native on the desktop.
Share status updates on Facebook.
Meta has been promising to integrate their platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, for better interactions and functionality. This feature is rolling out to users; they do not need to manually enable it from the app settings. This feature allows users to share their WhatsApp stories on their Facebook stories. This feature lets users send WhatsApp stories directly to Facebook without leaving the app. There is an option to choose from, which will not automatically allow them to share or post stories on Facebook.
Allow Multiple Answers and Custom Stickers on iOS.
This feature is starting to roll out. As discussed earlier, the Polls feature is coming, and custom stickers are finally launching on iOS devices. This means you can create custom stickers. Since WhatsApp allows you to create your custom sticker, it is now possible to add a new message when you remove the caption-forwarded media.
WhatsApp Beta
Apart from Meta’s rolling out the update, there are some new features that the company is testing with WhatsApp Beta. If you want to join WhatsApp, download the Android app from the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store’s Test Flight Beta Programme.
Transfer chat to the iPhone
This has been one of the most requested features for a long time. Initially, this was only available on Samsung-exclusive devices that transferred chats to iPhones. You can transfer your chat history and media files from one iPhone to another without using iCloud Backup. To use this feature, update your device to the latest version. After this, you only need to register your WhatsApp with the same phone number and use the old device to scan the QR code on a new phone to transfer your chat history.
This is a helpful feature since many users do not keep a backup of their device or cannot save their chat history to iCloud due to the 5GB free storage limit and do not want to pay for an iCloud subscription to upgrade their storage. This uses a built-in feature and does not require users to go through iCloud.
This feature is coming to Android and does not require users to have a backup of their chat history on Google Drive when migrating to a new Android device. You can use the Chat Transfer feature by heading to WhatsApp Settings and then Chats. This will allow users to migrate their chat history to a new Android device. It works similarly to iOS, where users must scan a QR code to initiate migrating their chat history. This will eliminate the requirement of saving data backup on the cloud; instead, it works with manual backup.
Silence, unknown callers
This new privacy feature will allow you to silence unknown callers. This gives you better control over your Privacy and avoids unwanted calls from unknown people. With this feature, you can silence unknown callers to avoid unwanted calls. To enable WhatsApp Unknown Caller, navigate to WhatsApp Settings and head to Privacy. From there, you can toggle to enable Silence Unknown Caller. After enabling this, you will not receive calls from unknown phone numbers since they will be muted.
You will not get any notification sounds for this feature, but the calls will still be visible in the app’s calls and notification center. This feature will also reduce the risk of falling victim to scammers and mute unsolicited calls by allowing you to focus on your work or other essential tasks. Community creators’ phone numbers will still be visible while avoiding scammers who try to trick them into sharing personal information or other sensitive data.
Bottom Navigation Bar
Smartphones are getting bigger and bigger, and using the navigation on top of the app takes much work. With this update, the app will have a new navigation at the bottom that will allow users to have better navigation and be useful for small hands to navigate different app sections more easily. This new interface provides the app with a bottom navigation bar. Meta’s WhatsApp has been using this interface for the app over the past few years. As this is a new interface for the app over the past few years, it is similar to WhatsApp for iOS.
Group Mention
This will allow users to mention groups within the community announcement group. This will improve communities by adding new features. Recently, WhatsApp introduced the Organes group, a community under the same community within the chat list. This allows users to identify and join relevant groups of their interest quickly. Additionally, this feature allows community admins to highlight specific groups within the community.
This feature will complement another feature that helps users navigate communities through the list of their groups by introducing a button within the conversation header. Additionally, it is a tool for community admins to add new groups to the community. Since this new feature and the navigation button were introduced in the previous beta update, the company has started rolling out the update to more users.
The missed call now has a red color.
Missed calls are now displayed in red within the call tab. This will make it easier to identify and track missed calls. Previously, it was the same color as attended calls, which were colored white. This feature has been introduced for years. Similar to the bottom navigation bar on iOS, these new features are coming to the upcoming version of WhatsApp. By quickly identifying missed calls, users can keep track of prioritized missed calls requiring attention and stay on top of calls without overlooking any important ones.
Privacy Checkup
A new privacy checkup will allow users to quickly check features that allow them to get an overview of their account privacy settings and review them quickly. This will appear in the Privacy Settings and show all details about Privacy Checkup features and different settings, including who can add you to groups, managing blocked contacts, controlling personal information, and enabling additional layers of Privacy and security. You can tweak the privacy settings by navigating to WhatsApp Settings and heading to Privacy. From there, you can tweak the Privacy Checkup.
Lock Chat
You can lock WhatsApp as a whole, but there is another handy feature for better Privacy and security. Users can now lock their chats, requiring Face ID or Touch ID to unlock them, ensuring that only the users can access them. After locking the chat, it will be listed in a new section called Locked Chat. Notifications for locked chats are received without the author and message preview, and media is not auto-saved to the phone’s gallery to keep locked chats even more private.
Campaign Message
This is useful for developing a new business tool to help small businesses connect easily with their customers. This will allow businesses to create messaging campaigns to send personalized promotions, reminders, or updates on holiday sales. This will eliminate the need for manual sending of the same message to multiple customers, making it easier for businesses to reach out to their customers. Businesses can create multiple message templates that include the customer’s name and more. After creating and sending a campaign message, businesses can keep track of their performance to help them grow their business.
Businesses must pay a certain fee, depending on the country. This will also help them grow their business. Businesses can manage the cost of each message and adjust the budget accordingly. Also, this campaign message will not be available on the Regular Message app; instead, it is for WhatsApp Business.
Side-by-side
This feature is one of the most anticipated. After enabling this, you can switch between conversations without losing track of the ongoing chat. This will make it easier to manage the interface within the app. To enable this, head over to WhatsApp Settings and then to Chats. From there, you have the option. This is such a nifty feature for the Android Tablet, and this side-by-side view splits the screen, allowing you to see each conversation, especially on smaller devices. However, some users may prefer the traditional single-window view and find the side-by-side view distracting or inconvenient.
Voice Message Transcripts
This allows users to read the content of a voice message instead of listening to it. This works like a caption where you can read the message. It will offer more flexibility and accessibility in communication and a voice message transcript, which is said to be enabled by default. Transcripts will allow users to search for specific information. This is similar to Google’s Recorder, which allows you to read messages. This feature will first roll out to iOS 16 users and will expand to Android in the future.
Community Navigation
Since WhatsApp has been expanding its communication feature, the new organization system for users to navigate now has improved chat tabs for users. It will distinguish between groups and communities. Sub-groups are also listed under their respective communities within the chat list, making it easier for users to identify and access the right group.
Reply with a message.
We have used the reply with the message on a regular call, and the same feature is now available for WhatsApp calls. So, if someone calls you, users can now reply to the call with a message. This will appear within the call notification. This includes declining an incoming call and simultaneously sending a message to the caller. This is such a helpful feature, allowing users to answer the call while also allowing them to reply with a text message.