WhatsApp has announced the arrival of five new features in the coming weeks: here are what they are
With a video posted on its social accounts, WhatsApp announces the arrival of many new features, both for the present and for the near future. These are tools and functions on which we have talked a lot, especially in the last period and that are now confirmed by the developers themselves. We're talking about the animated stickers, the dark mode on WhatsApp Web, the version of the messaging app on the PC, and especially the QR Code to add new contacts and to share your own.
The video is quite explicit about the timing of the release of the various features: the dark mode, improvements to video calls and the Status section for the KaiOS version of the app will arrive shortly, already in the next few days, while you have to wait a couple of weeks for the animated stickers and the QR code to share your phone number. This is one of the most important updates to the app in recent months, despite the Covid-19 forcing developers to work remotely.
WhatsApp, all the new features
There are five new features in total and they promise to improve small and large aspects of the app. They are coming as early as the next few days and users will be able to download the new version of the WhatsApp app to use them immediately. Let's go in order.
The first three to arrive are the dark mode for WhatsApp Web, new features for video calls and the arrival of the Status on KaiOS.
The dark mode on WhatsApp Web has been talked about for quite some time now and now it seems that it has finally arrived. It was already possible to activate it momentarily by editing the HTML code of the page, but now it will be much easier to do so. Just go to Settings and activate the dark theme.
New features also regarding video calls. For a few months now, WhatsApp has increased the limit up to eight people for group ones and now comes a small change to make them even more useful. The person who will be talking will be put in overlay to give it more prominence.
The third novelty concerns the KaiOS version of WhatsApp. KaiOS is a mobile operating system found mostly on low-cost smartphones popular in developing countries. Now on this version of the app also comes the Status section dedicated to timed images.
WhatsApp, what are QR Codes for
The video fixes the arrival of QR Code on WhatsApp in a few weeks. What will they be used for? To make it even easier to add a phone number on the smartphone. Each WhatsApp account will have its own QR code and a person will only need to frame it with the built-in camera on the app to add his number to the address book.
WhatsApp, animated stickers are coming
We've been talking about them a lot in the last few weeks and now we have official confirmation: animated stickers are coming in the next few weeks. Recently added in the beta version, the stickers will also characterize the official one. Users will be able to upload their own packs of animated stickers on the WhatsApp store and then share them within chats