Here are 10 New Features That WhatsApp Received this Year

By Prajith

| Updated: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 16:13 [IST]

WhatsApp is arguably the world's most used instant messaging app and the go to app to connect with your friends.

Here are 10 New Features That WhatsApp Received this Year

It already enjoys a strong user base of around 1 billion users around the world and the count is only growing. To cater the needs of this huge user base, Facebook-owned WhatsApp frequently updates its app to provide new features to its users.

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We have compiled a list of 10 new features WhatsApp has added this year to keep up with its competitors. So, without further ado, let's quickly check what they are.

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Pinch to zoom in videos

WhatsApp now allows its users to "pinch to zoom," meaning you can zoom in on the videos while playback. In addition to that, in a new beta version released today, it's making the process of zooming in and out more easy. You just have to slide up and down to zoom in and out respectively. Note that this feature works only from the inbuilt camera app.

Front Flash

Akin to the one on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, WhatsApp (Beta version) now offers you a front flash while capturing selfies. It uses your display to produce bright light thereby producing a flash-like effect.

End-to-end encryption on all platforms

To keep up with its closest rival, Telegram, WhatsApp rolled out support for end-to-end encryption earlier this year. What this essentially means is that whenever you send a message to someone, it first gets encrypted at your end, travels to the receiver's end without leaving a chance for intruders to intercept the message. Not even WhatsApp has access to these encrypted messages.

Quote Replies

When multiple users are texting in a group, at times, it may become real messy to figure out the actual context the sender intended. With the quote reply feature, you can effortlessly send contextual replies in group chats.

Bold, italicise, and strikethrough

In a recent update, WhatsApp started allowing you to send text in bold, italicise, and strikethrough to provide an emphasis on the text you share. To send text in bold you have to use (*) before and after the text you intend to send. Similarly, you can use (_) and (~) to send text in italicise and strikethrough respectively.

New chat background

Alongside the already existing chat backgrounds, WhatsApp has added solid colour backgrounds this year for chat wallpapers. You can select these new backgrounds from the chat window.

Send Pdf's and docs

Now WhatsApp allows you to share pdfs and docs alongside images and videos. It also allows you to share files directly from the cloud-based services like Dropbox and Google drive.

Up to 256 users in group chat

WhatsApp, earlier this year, bumped the group member limit from 100 to 256 making things easier for small organisations who are using WhatsApp as a platform for communication internally.

Trackable links and media

At on point of time, it becomes quite difficult to organise all the documents, links, and media your friends share with you personally or in a group. To overcome this issue, WhatsApp auto-sorts all the files you receive making it easier for you to keep track of them.

WhatsApp client for PC and Mac

Recently, in extension to its web version, WhatsApp launched a PC/Mac client for users on Windows 8 and above versions and macOS 10.9 and above versions.