New WhatsApp Features Drop – Tech Advisor

The communication app WhatsApp now has a whole host of new features for chats, calls and channels. For example, it will be easier to see which of your friends from group chats are online at any time, and you can also make sure you don’t get overwhelmed with notifications from the app.

New features for chats now include an indicator in group chats that shows which members are currently online, so you can see who’s around to talk to. If you’re in particularly active group chats (hello, overwhelming family groups), you can customise the notifications you receive, including choosing them to be sent only when someone writes to you directly, or replies to your previous messages. Here’s the full list of new chat features:

• Online indicator in group chats
• New settings to limit notifications, using @mentions, replies, and messages
• Create events in one-on-one conversations, reply “maybe”, pin an event in a chat and more
• View other people’s reactions and tap the one you want to send
• iPhone users can now scan and edit documents right from the app
• Also on iPhone, you can now set WhatsApp as your default messaging and calling app

For calls, it’ll now be easier to add more users, and it’ll be possible to zoom in on video calls. WhatsApp has also improved the technology for video calls, which should now freeze less often and have higher image quality.

Here are all the new call features:

• Pinch to zoom in for a closer look at videos
• Add a user to a call from a chat
• Enjoy higher-quality video calls

Finally, there are new features for channels: channel administrators will now be able to record and share short video clips of up to 60 seconds, and voice messages in the channel will now be summarised in text. Here’s the full list:

• Record and share videos up to a minute long
• Get a written summary of voice message updates
• Share a unique QR code to your channel with followers and friends

Want to know how to get WhatsApp on iPad? We’ve got you.