WhatsApp’s Major Update Is Here — Here Are All the New Features!

WhatsApp has made its new update official, and it’s rolling out now! There are tons of awesome features that we can’t wait to try out, including calling your friends on WhatsApp for free (with voice calls coming soon), sending invisible messages that self-destruct after they’re read, and more! Here’s what you need to know about WhatsApp’s major update — here are all the new features!

Reactions

Whatsapp got a major update and it is going to be really exciting for all users. With WhatsApp reactions feature, you can share your emotions by reacting through emoji. Just like Facebook, you can choose from six different emojis. There is also a new feature called WhatsApp mute which will allow users to mute messages for a certain period of time. WhatsApp voice notes are also an improved version with greater quality, speed and resolution than before. The video calling feature on Whatsapp has also been upgraded with effects now available during calls.

Group Call

If you have a group of close friends or co-workers who are always on WhatsApp, it’s hard to imagine a more useful new feature than group calling. It’s also a feature that wasn’t available at all until now, but thankfully WhatsApp has finally decided to introduce group calling. Before, users could only call one another one-on-one or in groups of up to three people (remember when you could send out those annoying Where are you?! messages?), but with these new updates that number is doubled. So if your circle of friends or work colleagues numbers four or more people (or 32; yes, 32), feel free to give WhatsApp calls a go.

Polls

One of WhatsApp’s new features will allow you to quickly poll your friends. Say you want to ask, Who wants dessert? with a tap of a button, instead of being forced to type out all those words and send it. Another trick I’m sure many people will use is sending an image message with multiple emojis that when tapped on will play different noises. For example, tapping on a dog will make it bark or tapping on two people making kissy faces might make them kiss or even fart when tapped on. You can download and update WhatsApp by visiting their website.

Large File sharing

The update will also enable users to share files of up to 2GB in size on Whatsapp. The Facebook-owned service has been spotted testing such file sharing, and now it’s set to roll out officially. If a user wants to send a file bigger than 100MB, they can tap Choose File under a chat, choose their file and press Send File. The recipient will be notified about receiving an image that is too large and provided with a link to download it from WhatsApp servers directly in case they want it.

512 Members in Group

WhatsApp just launched a major update with some useful new features. You can now add up to 512 members in WhatsApp Group, use emojis and more when sharing GIFs and photos, send messages as self-destructing video or audio notes and more. The most anticipated feature of WhatsApp has been released: WhatsApp reactions feature. This is similar to Facebook reactions. Using them we can express six different emotions on our WhatsApp conversations by adding emoji reactions like Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry symbols. That’s all you need to know about Whatsapp features in its latest version on your smartphone.

Admin Message Control

The most talked about feature in WhatsApp’s latest update is probably Admin Message Control. With it, administrators can delete messages from a group conversation. So if someone sends something inappropriate or spammy, you can delete it before anyone else even sees it. Messages are deleted for both sender and receiver—so in theory, at least, only admins will see deleted messages. But if admins accidentally delete a message that they meant to send to other people, they’ll have an option to restore them (this includes non-admin users). This should help reduce errors with accidental deletions and corrections. This feature is rolling out now in WhatsApp version 2.18.145 or higher on both Android and iOS devices globally, so check your app store for updates and let us know how it works for you!

Community

It has always been good at keeping WhatsApp users in touch with their friends and family, particularly for staying in touch with distant loved ones with its free calling features. All the same, WhatsApp’s focus on communication isn’t restricted to voice calls. It also offers groups on its new communities feature. Whether you’re hosting a small get-together or attending a larger social event, the community will connect you with people to stay in touch with.

Payments

It’s a big deal. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, and Facebook has been trying to compete with PayPal since it tried (and failed) to buy Braintree in 2012. There are a few reasons why you might use WhatsApp payments with cashback over its competitors: It’s fast, it’s mobile-only, and there’s no credit card required. That last point is important because Facebook hasn’t expanded past that yet—you can’t use WhatsApp payments without your phone number—so there are no payment cards attached to your account for hackers to steal. According to WhatsApp Payments VP Neeraj Arora, security will be key as it rolls out features like B2B payments in the future.

Voice Recording

WhatsApp just added an incredible new feature that allows users to record and share voice messages. From a first-person perspective, it’s a bit similar to Apple’s recent announcement of its new Clips app. But on WhatsApp, you can either press and hold or tap and hold to record audio. And when you’re done recording, your voice message will be sent as an audio file in addition to text in chat bubbles—so your friends won’t need the app installed in order to listen! The best part is that while recording, if you pause for too long, WhatsApp will automatically save your draft so you don’t lose it—and then resume recording once you’ve started again.