WhatsApp has announced a major rollout of cool new features ahead of the busy holiday season. The updates, which span across calls, chats, and status updates, promise to provide a smoother, faster, and more ‘expressive experience’ for its billions of users worldwide. The update not only ensures better convenience to WhatsApp users but also relies on AI features to spice up media sharing as well as general conversations.
One of the most notable additions is the introduction of missed call messages. When a user’s voice or video call goes unanswered, the platform now allows the caller to quickly leave a short voice or video note, effectively offering a sort of voicemail feature and ensuring seamless catch-up during the festive period.
Calling features are also seeing improvements. Voice chats now support real-time reactions, allowing participants to send quick acknowledgments without interrupting the conversation. For group video calls, a new speaker spotlight feature will automatically highlight the person actively speaking, making it easier for participants to follow the flow of larger discussions.
New creative features in WhatsApp
WhatsApp is leveraging Meta AI’s capabilities to improve image creation. The platform now offers new image generation models, including Midjourney and Flux, thus promising a significant boost in image quality when users create custom images, such as personalised holiday greetings, directly through Meta AI in WhatsApp. You also get AI-powered photo animation, allowing you to transform any static image into a short, shareable video for chats or Status.
For users on Mac, Windows, and Web, a new ‘Media’ tab has been introduced. This desktop-specific upgrade brings together all media, documents, and links shared across conversations into a single, easily searchable location. Additionally, the app has refined its link previews to reduce clutter caused by long URLs in chats.
Updates to WhatsApp Status and Channel
The popular WhatsApp Status feature is receiving new tools to increase user engagement. New sticker options are rolling out, including interactive designs, music lyric templates, and question prompts that allow users to post queries to which viewers can respond directly. Some of these features seem to be taken directly from Meta’s Instagram Stories, which offers the most
Additionally, Channel admins now have more tools for interaction, including the ability to ask real-time questions to their followers, making it easier for broadcasters to gather feedback and engage with their audience.
