Latest WhatsApp Updates
In an attempt to manage the spread of fake news and rumors that are alleged to have triggered a series of horrific lynching incidents, Whatsapp recently announced some new features in the app. These include:
- The number of people whom you can forward a message has been limited to 20. This means that from a single account a message can be forwarded only 20 times. Post that forwarding option will be disabled for that message. In India, where people forward more videos, messages and photos as compared to other countries this restriction has been set a lower limit of 5 forwards.
- In addition the Tech Giant also alleged to remove the quick forward button next to media messages.
- Whatsapp has added a feature that enabled users to forward multiple chats at once, a few years ago. Earlier in the month of July this year, Whatsapp launched a ‘forward label’ to identify if the message is original or has been forwarded.
These latest WhatsApp Updates came as part of Whatsapp’s motive to maintain the image of a ‘private messaging app’ – A simple, secure and reliable platform enabling communication with friends and family.
These new features are available on the latest supported version of Whatsapp on Android and IPhone devices.
Another Update launched by WhatsApp to stop the spread of fake news and rumors is:
- Suspicious Link Indicator: Earlier in the month of July Whatsapp had rolled out ‘Suspicious Link Indicator’ feature on Android Beta Version 2.18.221 to locally detect suspicious link and warn the recipients before they are opened. If the user still tries to open the link WhatsApp prompts them with another disclaimer pop up to alert the user. Two options, Open Link and Go Back will be provided in the dialog box with the suspicious character in the link highlighted.
The indicator feature inspects the link of the attachment and if it is found to contain suspicious characters that are considered unusual, it treats them as spam and notifies the user.
This feature is not currently available on iOS and Windows phone but is known to be rolled out in the future.
Other Latest WhatsApp Updates include:
- Group feature and Voice Call for Android and iPhone users: Keeping in mind the high usage of calling feature of Whatsapp with an estimated time of 2 billion minutes spent on WhatsApp call every day by users all around the world, the Tech Giant recently announced a new feature that supports group audio and video calling. The group calling feature supports a maximum of four participants at a time.
How to start a WhatsApp Group call?
In order to start a group call, first place a call to one of the contacts. After the call is received, you have a provision to add another participant by clicking on Add Person icon on the top right corner of the screen.
After the 3rd user receives the call, the names of the 2 participants will be displayed separated by a comma. You can add one more participant for a total of 4 members in a video or voice call.
- YouTube Integration on WhatsApp for iPhone devices: WhatsApp’s YouTube integration feature enables you to watch the shared YouTube videos on Whatsapp within the app right on the Chat window.
This means when a user clicks on a YouTube link to open a YouTube video, they no longer will be redirected to YouTube app installed on the phone. Instead the video now pops up in a small bubble with a play/pause, full screen and close buttons within the App (WhatsApp). Users also have the provision to change the size of the video bubble or move it anywhere on the screen. 
Even if the user switches the chat window, the video continues to play.
The YouTube bubble only appears for the person who receives the video. The senders of the video themselves cannot watch it within the app.
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