Facebook-owned WhatsApp is reportedly testing a plethora of new features presumably to be rolled out at some undisclosed point in 2020. The features were spotted first by WABetaInfo and pooled by XDA Developers, stretching from the global to the region-specific. Potentially geared at lessening the blow of the long-expected addition of in-app advertisements, there’s something in the mix for just about everybody.
Among the most useful of the incoming features are the ability to log-in with multiple devices and a revamped storage utility. The former change was already hinted at earlier this year. But it has now reportedly been confirmed under testing by WABetaInfo. It will support up to four devices at a time. That means that users will be able to sign in and keep it that way on up to four devices.
In the latter case, WhatsApp is also tacking on a new “Storage Usage” feature. That should hit Android in the near future. That will essentially streamline the management of storage used by WhatsApp. It comes complete with new filters for sorting through and finding files. And that includes the ability to sort by size, newest, or oldest.
WhatsApp is altering the process for deleting files on iOS too. Users will be able to select by file type from photos, GIFs, and videos through voice messages, documents, and stickers. They’ll now have the option, instead of simply clearing everything selected, to only clear up items that haven’t been starred.
But wait, there’s more!
Of course, there are other new features that have been discovered in testing too. That includes two features for everybody and one expressly for India.
First, WhatsApp is currently testing a way to allow users to search by date. The app already allows searches of content in chats but there isn’t really an easy way to find everything quickly based on when it was shared. With the new feature in place, users will notice a calendar icon in the search bar after it’s been tapped.
Tapping the calendar icon, in its current form, calls forward a cylindrically-scrolling date utility. Sliding up or down, users can select a date. Then, the search results will only show for the date that’s been selected.
Keeping with the ‘search’ theme, WhatsApp will additionally be including a new button to upload shared images to Google for a reverse-image search.
Last but not least, WhatsApp is looking to improve the experience even further for its users in India. Summarily, the company is testing integration with the popular Indian social network ShareChat. The company is hoping to cater to the over 60-million monthly active users on the video hosting social media service. To that end, it’s now working to add the ability to play shared ShareChat videos in PiP mode. Those would then be played directly in the messaging app.
These aren’t publicly available yet, even in beta
Now, the features listed here are reportedly not even available in beta channels of the app. So they should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. With that said, if and when the new WhatsApp features appear in 2020, it’s not immediately clear whether that will be a simultaneous update. Specifically for both iOS and Android apps.
Because they’re under development still, there are plenty of changes that could be made too. WhatsApp will almost certainly make some aesthetic changes, for starters. But exactly how the features work and how the UI is presented or interacted with could feasibly be adjusted as well.
Finally, it isn’t clear when the features will be added or if they’ll be added in individual updates since they’re still in development. Presumably, those that appear further along in development will arrive prior to changes that are in a less ‘finished’ state right now. Each will undoubtedly prove useful, regardless of when they arrive.
