WhatsApp continues to refresh its messaging app. Now the popular messaging service is working on a feature where you respond to a message with emojis.
Emoji Reactions in WhatsApp
This is evident from shared screenshots of WABetainfo, which follows the developments in the beta versions of WhatsApp. Replying to a message with emojis is something like Apple’s Messages app ‘Tapbacks’, which let you respond to a message quickly and easily.
If you press and hold a message longer, WhatsApp will conjure up a row of six emojis above the message. It’s about the thumbs up, heart, face with tears of laughter, face with open mouth, face with a tear and folded hands. If you choose one of these emojis, it will appear in small below the message.
Just like Facebook Messenger
The option is very similar to the emoji responses in Facebook Messenger, where you also tap a message longer to respond with an emoji. And there you can also choose from six emojis, although there is also a plus button that gives you access to the full emoji chooser. This is not visible in the screenshots of WhatsApp and it is unclear whether that button will still be available.
The message responses are being rolled out for both iOS and Android, according to WABetainfo. We’ll probably see the option in a new beta before it’s available to everyone. The Twitter channel also states that the emoji responses are encrypted end-to-end, just like the ‘regular’ chat messages you send in WhatsApp.
Competing chat apps already have these emoji responses. Signal has been able to do that since early 2020. Telegram also recently added the option to the app, though oddly enough, the feature only works in an individual chat and not in a group app.
More and more features
WhatsApp is known as a relatively basic messaging app, but it is catching up. The messaging service is adding more and more features to the immensely popular chat app. Since last week, for example, WhatsApp shows the profile photo with notifications.
It has also become possible to automatically delete WhatsApp messages. And there is more to come, because WhatsApp will soon also be possible to use without your iPhone and it will be possible to merge separate group chats into one community (community).
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