WhatsApp is putting in all efforts to make the app as user-friendly as possible and is introducing new features that might take the app’s utility to an entirely different level.
Many new features like Mentions, Adding GIFs, making video calls, and adding bots to the app are going to be introduced. While the Mentions feature, GIFs, quoting and replying messages are already out, the users will have to wait for some time more for the video calls and bots to roll out for the public.
Mentions Feature to Single-out in a Group
WhatsApp is enabling the Mentions feature which was rumored to be out back in June. This feature allows the users to gather attention of any one or multiple people in a group conversation. The users will have to tag the people with a “@” and the person will be notified about the message in the group conversation. The user will just have to type “@” and few alphabets of the contacts name and a drop down list will be displayed with the names of people in the group. The user who is mentioned will receive notification regardless of whether the conversation is in mute or not.
It is available for Android version 2.16.259 and iOS 2.16.10.and newer versions.
Quote Messages in a Group
The Mentions feature on WhatsApp follows the ability to quote messages and replies in a group chat. This feature will allow you to quote messages while replying in a group conversation. This message quotes and reply feature is self-explanatory. The user will just have to long press the message in any conversation and a reply option will pop-up along with the options for star, forward, delete, and copy.
Addition of GIFs
The new GIFs have been added only for the iOS users with the updated WhatsApp version. The GIF support is still hidden and is yet to be enabled by the company. However, if you download the app from the App Store, then you can just view the GIFs but cannot send it to other users.
Two-Factor Authentication for Verification
The developers are working on putting the Two-Factor-Authentication feature into action in the app, which will ensure more safety to your WhatsApp account and data will an extra security layer. This does not make much sense since there are already giving alerts when a WhatsApp web version is active, being wary of any intrusion on the account. Moreover, this Two-Factor-Authentication will not work if any other user or hacker uses the device which is not secured by a password on the lock screen.
Video Calls
WhatsApp is updating its users to notify about video calls. Even though the video calls feature is hidden currently, it should be rolling out soon.
Bots to Avoid Spamming
The company’s Legal Info page has few new details about how they are looking forward for businesses to communicate with each other by using WhatsApp. Rumors have it that the company is going to add bots to its instant messaging app. WABetaInfo reported on Twitter that the new legal notes of WhatsApp suggests that the company is exploring ways to let the businesses communicate with the users through marketing, appointment, order, and transaction information, shipping and delivery notifications, and service and product updates.
They further specify that the users will also be able to receive upcoming travel information like flight status, purchase receipts, etc. Marketing messages may include relevant offers. The idea behind using the bots is to avoid spamming of all the messages. This feature seems to be in conjunction with that of Facebook Messenger.