Whatsapp keeps in rolling out new features and updates in order to enhance the user experience. Whatsapp has introduced a ton of new features over the past few updates, and I am simply loving it. Like seriously, you can just do this to mute the notifications from that one annoying friend and soon you will also be able to send stickers. Pretty cool, right? But, that's not all. Whatsapp now has a ton of other cool features, that you may or may not know about, so, let's take a look at them. Here are all the important changes included in WhatsApp this year.
You can also check: Dual WhatsApp: Run Multiple WhatsApp Accounts on Android Phone
CHECK TRAIN STATUS
first off, let's talk about a feature that I came across recently, The ability to check train status. Yes, thanks to the partnership between IRCTC and MakeMyTrip, you can now get live updates on your trains whereabouts, PNR status, etc. right within WhatsApp. All you have to do is add this number (7349389104) to your contact list so that you can send messages and get live updates on WhatsApp. Now, you can just type live train status followed by the train number to get all the updates, you can also type PNR status followed by the pNE number to get information like current status, charting status and more, along with this emoji. I mean just look at it!
GROUP VOICE AND VIDEO CALLING
Next up, Group voice and video chatting is another feature that I find myself using all the time. I mainly use WhatsApp to catch up with my group of friends and this feature is like a godsend. To use this feature, you can simply initiate a video call from the chat window. There's a dedicated button for both video and voice calling on top. Tapping that will initiate a call after which you can directly add more people to the same cal without any disturbance. You can add up to four people at a time and the same goes for voice calling as well. Let's enjoy WhatsApp latest encrypted video calls for up to four people.
RECORD AUDIO MESSAGES HANDS-FREE
However, if you are like sharing then, you probably prefer sending audio messages instead of calling. Well, here's a trick that might come handy. If you like recording long audio messages, you can just tap on the microphone icon here and just swipe up to keep recording. Yes, you don't have to keep holding the button If you are going to record a long message. I know that was a good one, but, wait until I tell you about the nest one.
HIDE RECEIVED MEDIA
Yes, you can finally hide received media from your phone's gallery. You can go to the chat info page and tap on media visibility option. Now, you select your prefeed option and tap ok. It is definitely a game-changing feature, at least for me because I received a lot of crappy and unwanted files that I don't want popping up when I open my phones gallery.
BETTER ADMIN CONTROLS
speaking of crappy and unwanted things, let's talk about a feature that will let you have control over such people, at least when you are a group admin. As a group admin, I can go to group settings here and control things like who gets to edit group info or even restrict member form sending messages on the group. I am sure a lot of you group admins will appreciate this feature.
FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS
Following the recent string of criticism, WhatsApp has finally decided to fight fake news and prevent the misinformation spread. Besides the full-page newspaper ads. Whatsapp has also started tagging all the forward messages with a label like this one. In fact, to avoid the spread of fake news. the messaging platform has also started limiting the number people you can send a forward message. Yes, going forward, you can only forward a message to 5 people at a time. What a relief! And also, it looks like you will soon be able to identify suspicious links before opening them, that's to this red color warning label.
Recently added Whatsapp features
- WhatsApp Payments: You can pay via WhatsApp now.
- Delete for everyone: You can now delete your sent messages.
- Group description feature: You can now add more than just the name.
- Group Video Calling: You can now simultaneously chat with 4 people.
- Whatsapp for Business: Provides another platform to interact with business.
- Location and time stickers: Add location and time stickers.
- Voice-to-video call switch: You can now switch between voice and video.
- Apple Carplay too gets WhatsApp integration.
- WhatsApp youtube integration: You can play youtube videos right into.
- Whatsapp adaptive icons: Change the WhatsApp look on your smartphones.
- Special mention: Location sharing with other users.
Whatsapp features you can’t miss
- Now you can pin your important chats on the top in WhatsApp messenger.
- Google Assistant to send messages: Now WhatsApp users can send messages without actually typing.
- Read messages without informing the sender, you Just scroll down the notification plan and enable the flight mode. Now launch the WhatsApp and read the all the messages, after reading just close the app using the multi-window (make sure it don't run in the background). Now remove the phone from flight mode and you have read the message without informing the sender.
- With WhatsApp, It is very simple to share the live location with your friends. To do this, open WhatsApp, tap on the 'Attachment' icon and select ‘Location.
- If you send a wrong message by mistake to the wrong person on WhatsApp, there is still a way to delete it. Just select the message press ‘Delete’ and select ‘Delete for everyone’, So the recipient cannot read the message that you mistakenly sent.
- Now you can easily pin your most important chats on the top of your conversation list. To pin, just long press on the chat from that person and then press the ‘pin icon’ that appears. You can pin only three contacts on top of the conversation list.
- Now with the latest update, you can easily create GIFS within WhatsApp and send it to your friends. To do this, Click on the attach icon > Select Gallery > Go to videos. Select the video. Now open the video editing section of WhatsApp. Here, the option of converting it to a GIF will appear.
- Here you can edit images on WhatsApp before sending them. To do this, Select attach > Go to gallery > Select the image in WhatsApp’s photo editor you wish to edit. Here you’ll see many options for adding text, emoticons, you can also resize and change colors to your image.
- format text on WhatsApp as it is a handy feature to use. You can bold, asterisk and underline text on WhatsApp. bold text on WhatsApp by an asterisk ‘*’, for italics, followed by an underscore sign ‘_’ and for underline follow text with tilde ‘~’.
- WhatsApp supports a number of worlds languages. For pick the language you wish to type, open WhatsApp > Go to Settings > Select Chats > Click on App Language.
- You can also add a conversation shortcut on home screen. For make a conversation shortcut, just long press on the conversation, and click ‘Add chat shortcut'.
- Now you can hide when you last opened your WhatsApp. For hide last seen, go to Settings > Select Account > Click on Privacy > Choose Last Seen and then select the most suitable option.
- You can easily stop automatically download media. Just go to Settings > Select Data usage and select do not download automatically.
FINAL WORDS
Well, those were some of the cool features that WhatsApp has received with the new updates. I certainly like them. But, what do you think them, let us know in the comments section down below?
