WhatsApp continues to develop the In-App Support feature: we will be able to chat with technical support directly from the app.
In-App Support is one of WhatsApp's latest ideas that allows you to contact customer support directly from the app, in case of problems or malfunctions. It is to all intents and purposes a novelty, still in the testing phase, but it highlights the company's desire to meet the needs of its users.
The feature appeared during the last month of October 2020 in a beta version of the instant messaging app, reserved for devices with Android operating system. However, the confirmation of the operation, only for some test-enabled users, came from the WABetaInfo website following the availability for download of the 2.21.7.3 release. So WhatsApp has unveiled another piece of what will be the new feature that, in the near future, could land on all devices - including Apple-branded ones - providing users with the ability to send reports to the team engaged in customer support and receive a quick and targeted feedback.
In-App Support, new details from WhatsApp
Thanks to the latest release dedicated to beta testers, released through the Google Play Beta Program, In-App Support-enabled users can now start familiarizing themselves with the new feature, touching on the details added in the latest stages of development. In particular, they can start taking advantage of the direct contact channel with WhatsApp support through what has been named "Support Chat Thread", that is, a particular chat managed by customer support.
This is a full-fledged chat, like the ones you normally use with your contacts, equipped with end-to-end encryption and in which you can report the various bugs encountered while using the app. You should also add some technical information about the device you are using to the problem, in order to provide the support team with a complete overview of the problem at hand.
Once the support team is in charge, they can start working on the report. At the end of the work, the support will communicate to the user the result of the operation - according to the automatic messages present in the chat, as visible in the screenshots published by WABetaInfo on its Twitter profile, within 48 hours -, closing the ticket and the chat itself.
In-App Support, who can participate in the tests
As anticipated, at the moment the feature has been enabled only for a limited group of users. To check if your profile is one of the beta testers, just do a quick check directly in the app, following the path Settings > Help > Contacts.
If you find that your profile is among the beta testers, you can start testing, otherwise you'll have to wait for the feature to be made available to all users on a permanent basis.
At the moment, it's not clear when In-App Support will be available to everyone, nor whether the final version will include a bot for the initial filtering of support requests. Most likely, though, is that initially the new feature will be released to everyone just to get support on another of the upcoming features on WhatsApp: the ability to make purchases directly in chat, talk to merchants' WhatsApp Business accounts.