A fair criticism of WhatsApp over the years was, despite its popularity, that it never really added many new features. That has changed over the past couple of years, with owner Meta adding several new perks and tools via free software updates for Android and iPhone.
These updates are coming thick and fast these days, with recent additions including message translation and voice and video call scheduling being added this year.
But there are four things WhatsApp can now do that have flown so under the radar, the firm has decided to remind us of their existence in a blog post.
The first of these that you might not know about is the new ability to be able to share Live Photos taken on an iPhone and Motion Photos taken with compatible Android phones such as a Google Pixel.
Previously, these little moving images you could view on your phone’s gallery app could not be sent in this form on WhatsApp, but now they can.
“Now you can share Live Photos (iOS) and Motion Photos (Android) that capture life just as it is – complete with sound and movements – meaning you can share richer moments with friends on any platform,” WhatsApp said.
Secondly, you can now access new sticker packs in chats. You could already download several fun images and stickers to send to whoever you want, and you can even make your own from your camera troll, but now there are more to choose from.
“Download stickers from the Fearless Bird, School Days or Vacation packs whose cute characters can sum up how you’re feeling without needing to say a word,” WhatsApp said.
Perhaps more practically, WhatsApp will now serve you better search results when you’re searching for group chats.
“Group chat names sometimes get so creative that they can be hard to remember,” WhatsApp said. “Now, just search for someone you know that’s in the group in your Chats tab, and it will display the groups you have in common.”
That one sounds particularly handy. I know I’m in several group chats that are obscure references I can never remember, or even chats whose names are just emojis.
Most practical of all is the final flagged new feature on WhatsApp, which is document scanning on Android, something you could already do on the iPhone version of the app.
You can tap within chats to add a document to the feed, where you can then select to scan the document using your phone’s camera. This is instead of having to use your phone’s camera app and then save the image to then upload it – doing it directly in the app saves several taps and swipes.