WhatsApp: Here's a List of New Features Introduced and Spotted in 2017

Technology

4. In-app YouTube playback

WhatsApp is also testing a feature that allows users to play YouTube videos within the app. This means you will be able to watch the video without leaving the app; the video can be viewed in either picture-in-picture mode or full-screen mode. Moreover, the window can be moved around. If you want to browse through other messages inside the same WhatsApp chat, or hide the video on the side. Notably, the video playback does not continue when you change the chat. There is one more caveat to the feature as it is only available for iPhone 6 and later models.

5. Two-step verification

This feature was rolled out in February to all users as an optional security feature. With this feature, users are now able to verify their number when they install the app on a new device more securely. Users will have to provide a six-digit passcode (created by them using this feature) when registering their phone number with WhatsApp again - or any attempt to verify their phone number through the app. To know how to setup two-step verification, follow the step-by-step guide here.

6. All file type transfer

The company is slowly rolling out support for all types of file transfers (including archives) on Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone with a limited number of users, removing any hindrance of file sharing on WhatsApp. This new feature will now allow you to share video in a wide variety of formats, MP3 songs, or even APK files for that matter on WhatsApp. The file sharing limit will still be at 128MB on iOS, 64MB on Web, and 100MB on Android.

7. Ability to queue messages on iPhone

While WhatsApp had this ability on Android for a while now, iPhone users finally got it in January. This ability to queue messages even when in areas of poor or no connectivity was a big miss for iPhone users, as it prevented them to send messages at all in areas of poor connectivity. Now, all users can just send a WhatsApp message to a group/individual even when connectivity is unavailable, and the message will be sent automatically once they get connectivity again.

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