WhatsApp bringing multi-device support to mobile devices

A lot of features have been added to WhatsApp and it’s also been a while since we dived into them. This is a complete rundown of all the more interesting ones.

Multiple device support coming to mobile devices

At the moment you can set up your account on up to 5 different devices running the web client and desktop app client of the app which is pretty much on computers and web browsers. WhatsApp is working on a feature to enable sharing of an account on mobile devices. At the moment the beta version of this feature is being rolled out to select beta users on tablets.

So on your tablet, you get the same QR code to scan with your phone so you can access the same account on the tablet. It’s not yet available on smartphones if anyone is curious.

Group limits increased

The 256 limit on the number of group members has been bumped up to 512. Essentially doubling community groups. It’s not as many as the 10 000 that telegram allows for but at least it’s something, especially considering how they still limit forwarding content to 5 chats or groups to curb the spread of fake news. Being able to fit more community members in a group means we don’t need as many groups which also makes it easier to share the news with those groups.

Audio gets pinned now

Remember when you received a 10-minute voice note or song and you could not leave the chat till it had ended or else it would just stop? Well, that’s a thing of the past. If you leave a chat whilst playing audio, the audio continues playing and it is pinned at the top of the app complete with a play/pause button just in case you need to quickly pause it without going through the whole process of looking for the chat. All they need to add to it now is that button for playback speed. Oh, and it’s also available on WhatsApp web.

Disappearing Chats

In the chat settings, you now have an option of setting disappearing messages. Why you want this I am not sure. Some say it’s to manage storage but I’m not sold on that yet. Anyway, you have an option to set messages to automatically disappear after a day, a week, or 3 months. Yes, you can turn the feature off if you want to keep your 10-year-old evidence in black and white for the foreseeable future.

Mini preview for selected photos and videos

When selecting photos and videos to share, you now have a little row at the bottom that gives you previews of all the photos and videos you have selected. No more scrolling gymnastics trying to figure out which media files you chose and which ones you left out. It’s not all in that bottom row.

Also on the topic of photos and videos, you now get an option for Recents as well as Gallery. So instead of scrolling through every single photo and video in your gallery, you can now select the gallery view which will group all your photos and videos into folders. The same folders that you will find in your phone’s gallery 

Sharing your status

You put up a banger of a status and it’s getting a heap of views. Then people start asking you to send them the pic or video that’s on your status. Previously you had to go to your gallery and look for the file then try sharing it and if it’s not someone you chat with often it also involves endless scrolling looking for them. A total pain I know. Well, now there is a share button on the status that you can click and share the file without needing to visit the gallery.

Admins can delete anyone’s messages now

As a group moderator for quite a number of groups things can get hectic when trying to maintain the agenda of the group. Worse still if the groups can be accessed by anyone on the internet. So in the event that someone dumps some seriously promiscuous stuff and exits the group, the group admin can delete these messages for everyone.

Also Read:

• No, your WhatsApp calls are ‘probably’ not being recorded
• WhatsApp improving group chats with ‘group of groups’ called Communities