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WhatsApp will soon let you speak your status.
The new status update capability is nested among quite a few upcoming WhatsApp features. According to WABetaInfo (opens in new tab), the company is working on 10 new tools. Most are currently available through the beta version of the Android app, one of which is exclusive to iOS devices.
WhatsApp is currently testing on Android voice status updates (opens in new tab) allowing users to record and share voice notes as a status instead of plain text. You have a maximum recording time of 30 seconds and if you don’t like what you hear you can discard the status before recording another update. Notes are confirmed to be end-to-end encrypted, “to ensure that only the people you choose with your privacy settings can listen to them.” They also disappear automatically after 24 hours or you can delete them yourself at any time.
However, there are limitations for the current version of voice status updates. Not everyone who downloads the beta app will be able to include updates as it will only be sent to a select few people. In addition, other users must have the beta installed on their phones in order to listen.
Improve chat transfer
Then the development team works on a revamped chat transfer (opens in new tab) function for safely moving your chat history to a new Android device without having to use Google Drive; effectively remove the middleman. The way the migration works is that you have to open the chat transfer tool on your old phone first scan a QR code (opens in new tab) on the copy of WhatsApp on the new device. It looks like this is exclusive to Android phones, as an iOS version is “not currently planned” according to WABetaInfo.
And the last notable Android changes are the new shortcut blocking features. They let you block a person in the chat list (opens in new tab) without having to open the entire conversation, while allowing other users to block contacts within a notification (opens in new tab). Keep in mind that the last feature will only appear if you receive a message from an unknown source. This way you don’t accidentally block someone you know.
Exclusively for iPhone
For iOS adds WhatsApp tabs to the camera in the app (opens in new tab) so you can instantly switch between taking photos or recording videos instead of holding down the button on the screen. It is unknown whether video mode will continue recording after switching to photo mode or stop. Hopefully it’s the former, because it would be disappointing if the recording stops after switching.
Unfortunately, the iOS beta program (opens in new tab) for WhatsApp is full, so any new interested iPhone owners won’t be able to try out the upcoming camera mode. However, the latest Android beta still has room for testers through the Google Play Store (opens in new tab). Official launch dates remain unknown for all.
While we’ve got you, check out TechRadar’s recent list of the best free android apps available from the Google Play Store. It’s a huge 11-page list of education, travel, and camera apps.