When it comes to messaging applications, there are few that are as popular or more popular than WhatsApp, a service which is offered nearly the world over and not only lets users chat with anyone in their contacts list but also initiate and receive voice calls. WhatsApp also now includes improvements to the types of files that WhatsApp supports for sending files back and forth between contacts, and it features end-to-end encryption for chat which is a great feature to have at time when privacy is so important. As of today WhatsApp is getting another update to the application which introduces the ability for users send quick replies to incoming messages from the notification panel making communication much faster if you simply need to send a few words like, “be there soon” for example. To get access to this feature as well as the others, users will need to have beta access which can be acquired by simply opting to be a beta tester through the Play Store.
While WhatsApp offers quite a bit already, making it one of the more robust messaging applications on the Play Store, there is always room for improvement and the quick reply feature is one that users have likely been waiting on, and it’s also a feature that Hangouts recently added as well. Beyond the quick reply from notifications for incoming messages, WhatsApp’s latest update also introduces other features worth mentioning.
This includes a new wallpaper selector that should make it much easier to find and set wallpapers for conversations within the app while also providing users with solid color options, and the update also appears to include better contextual contact options than before. This includes the ability for quicker access to these contextual contact or chat options with a new panel window that pops up with all of the options listed, and you can either do this for a single contact by long-pressing on the contact of choice, or you can long-press and then continue to select other chat contacts or group chats for any of the listed options which include archiving, adding chat shortcuts, muting and unmuting those chats, marking them as read or unread, and more. There is no mention on when this update will fully roll out to users through the Play Store, but for now if you’re a dedicated WhatsApp uses and you want access to them, it’s as simple as becoming a beta tester.