WhatsApp Launches New Features

 WhatsApp launches its latest update at the beginning of the year

The world’s biggest messaging platform, WhatsApp, has kicked off the new year with a suite of features and design updates aimed at enhancing user experience. These several new features, aimed at enhancing the user experience and adding more fun to messaging and media sharing. Some of these features have been available to users already, but they should become more widely available for everyone now. The updates include creative camera effects, personalised selfie stickers and improved message reactions. The updates, revealed by WhatsApp’s owner Meta, are having a focus on making the platform more engaging and intuitive. Following are the details of what users can expect in terms of the four key updates:-

Camera Effects 

Building on last year’s addition of effects for video calls, WhatsApp now allows you to apply the same 30 backgrounds, filters, and effects to the photos you share. This upgrade can directly transform images with just a few taps while sharing media. Users can now transform their photos and videos, when sending media in chats. The move is designed to provide a more interactive and visually appealing way to communicate.

Enhanced sticker sharing

Another feature is the ability to turn a selfie into a sticker. You can tap Create sticker, take a selfie, and instantly generate a custom sticker. This feature is currently rolling out for Android users and will be available on iOS shortly. The platform has also made it easier to share sticker packs. Users can now send entire packs to friends directly through their chats, adding a new layer of convenience to sharing popular stickers, which is a welcome upgrade over saving stickers one by one.

Message Reactions with Double Tap

Responding to messages is faster and more efficient with a new double-tap feature. Users can instantly react to messages and access their most-used reactions with a quick scroll, making conversations smoother and more dynamic. In this way, reacting to messages has been streamlined. You can now double-tap a message to react, allowing for quicker responses. The app also provides a way to easily scroll through your most frequently used reactions, making it more convenient for those who rely on reactions to communicate.

Personalised selfie stickers

WhatsApp has introduced the ability to turn selfies into custom stickers, a feature currently available on Android and set to launch on iOS soon. To create a sticker, users simply tap the “create sticker” icon, snap a selfie, and personalise their new digital expression.

WhatsApp is the world’s most widely used messaging app. According to Meta, it has 2 billion daily users who send more than 100 billion messages every day in 60 languages across 180 countries. Some 500 million of those users are in the sub-continent, WhatsApp’s biggest market, followed by another 120 million in Brazil.