WhatsApp’s Getting A Reload!

WhatsApp getting a whole hoard of new features to match its competitors.

WhatsApp might be all set to revamp it’s App, to make it even more endearing to its users.

The messenger service, now owned by Facebook, has over a billion users around the world, in more than a hundred countries. But they aren’t off vacationing their windfall. In the latest revamp, WhatsApp seems to be concentrating on introducing features related to Music, and on making texts more interactive.

According to Macerkopf, a trusted German website, the following are a few features that WhatsApp is currently rumoured to striving to bringing to its users:

• Bigger Emojis: The application already has a diverse set of emojis, but it may be going the Apple way, with new add-ons being crafted, and even interactive emojis similar to those included in the revamped iMessage functionality anticipated with iOS 10.
• Groups and Group Chats: Will enable users to join groups by simply clicking on an active link. The admins will still control the link, and govern who is in the group, but getting people on would be much easier for them now.
• Mentions: Another important feature would be ‘mentions’, which would work quite like Twitter and Facebook does. It will enable you to tag people from your contacts book, within a message, and it will send them a notification like it does on Facebook and Twitter.
• Music related new features: The app would also include music sharing features, enabling them to share music stored locally with a small music player appearing in the chat window complete with album visuals for the song that’s being shared.
  This will also support Apple Music, but for it to work then both the sender and the receiver would have to be paying subscribers.
• Other features: WhatsApp’s recent end-to-end encryption has been widely appreciated. Earlier this month WhatsApp announced that users will now be able to send GIFs to each other. Rival applications like Viber, Facebook Messenger, and Slack, all have had some form of GIF integration by now.
  Another new feature that was brought on the iOS version of the application earlier this month was the ability to quote texts from users. The user needs to long press a message in any conversation to see a Reply option pop up alongside with the existing options of Star, Delete, Forward, and Copy message.

In the recent past, WhatsApp has included fun features like making texts bold and italics as well. Last month the addition of sharing documents on WhatsApp Web was another add-on that was much appreciated, along with the company rolling out its first desktop apps for Windows and OS X platforms. One can even send videos, pictures, location, and PDF files using the application!

Not too long ago, WhatsApp had brought calling as a standard feature on the messenger. And it became a runaway success. WhatsApp reported that people make over a 100 million calls every day using their application! It might even have affected the usage of FaceTime Audio, which is no mean achievement.

When and Where? The features can first be expected to start rolling out on the iOS version of the application and then move on to Android and Windows subsequently. With the speed that WhatsApp is going with, we can expect them on the application and working within a few months. We shall report the exact dates when we hear them.

The Facebook-owned application has been adding a lot of new features to try to make themselves more fun and user-friendly. One of the most anticipated next features that remains pending, is undoubtedly video calling, that would be a major swipe on Skype’s and FaceTime’s sides.

Hope they release the latest version soon! I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Originally published at Chip-Monks.