WhatsApp has been in the news for both good and bad reasons in 2018. The Facebook messaging application came up with some great features like a quote reply, group voice calls, stickers and so on, that changed the way we use the instant messaging platform. Looks like WhatsApp is already preparing to make the new year a good one for them. The instant messaging platform is reportedly working on some new feature which users are going to love. In 2019, WhatsApp is working on bringing newer and better and useful features than 2018. Rumours and report claim that the Facebook-owned messaging platform is working on some new features like Universal Picture-in-picture mode for videos, fingerprint lock or unlock, dark mode, consecutive voice messages, sticker search, group video call and so on.
WhatsApp is yet to make these features official, but reports suggest that the messaging platform has already started working on the features. Let’s take a quick look at how these aforementioned features can change the way one communicates on WhatsApp.
Universal PiP Mode for Videos
In 2019, WhatsApp might bring some of the follow-up features that were introduced in 2018. One of them will be the Universal PiP Mode for videos. Last year WhatsApp introduced the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode for videos, which basically allowed users to watch videos sent by their friends on WhatsApp on a small window floating in the corner of the chat screen. The PiP mode plays only limited videos, like the ones shared directly from Facebook or YouTube. The good thing about the feature is that it lets users multitask – which is, watch the video and chat at the same time. With the Universal PiP Mode WhatsApp will support third-party videos as well.
Fingerprint Lock or Unlock
WhatsApp has been under scrutiny for some privacy concerns in the past few years or so. It looks like in 2019 the instant messaging application will be working on strengthening the privacy of the users. The latest leak reveals that WhatsApp will very soon bring the option for fingerprint authorisation for the app. With this feature, the WhatsApp users will basically need to authenticate their identity every time they open the messaging app. Well, this might annoy a lot of users, but it’s a great feature to maintain and improve privacy. This feature is currently under testing for iPhones, but it might arrive for Android users as well.
Dark Mode
This is one of the few features that a lot of WhatsApp users have been craving for. YouTube has recently received the same feature. With dark mode coming to WhatsApp users will finally be able to switch the screen to a darker shade when inside a dark room which will reduce the strain on their eyes.
Media Preview
Right now WhatsApp displays the text messages in the notification shade but sadly to watch the media files the users will need to open the app. With the Media preview feature coming to the app the users will be able to play any media file – video or audio – in the notification shade only. In fact, after the feature is made official users will also be able to view pictures and GIF in the notification shade itself.
Sticker Search
If you use emojis in your WhatsApp chat regularly, you’ll know that there’s an option to search emojis by typing on a search tab placed on top of the emoji library. Sadly, that’s no way to search stickers. But WhatsApp believes Sticker search is an important feature and it will be rolled out in 2019. WhatsApp introduced the sticker feature a couple of months ago and in such a short span of time, the features have received an overwhelming response.
Group Video Vall
This is also one of the most awaited features to be introduced in 2019. As the name reveals, the Group video call feature will allow more than two people to have a group chat on WhatsApp. It is worth noting that the Group video call features have already been rolled out to some users, but this year all WhatsApp users will receive the feature.
