New features in WhatsApp: more interactive voice messages

WhatsApp is constantly updating its platform. More interactive voice messages are coming to the encrypted chat app.

The Meta the popular messaging platform is currently testing new features such as message reactions, voting and support for multiple devices. But the new features don't stop there. They are also working on adding more that will improve voice interactions.

More interactive voice messages: preview of the slideshow, the ability to pause and resume recording, playback outside chat, resume playback, and waveform display - these are expected.

Sending voice messages on WhatsApp has been around since 2013. While it's not the main focus of the platform, the company says an average of 7 billion voice messages are sent every day. So it's clearly a popular feature of the app, and it's no surprise that the company wants to improve it even further.

One of the upcoming features includes a Play Outside Chat feature that will allow users to listen to voice messages even when they are outside the original chat. This has been a much requested feature and is a quality of life change.

Users will also soon be able to pause and resume recording. Another new feature is that the new draft preview function allows users to listen to their voice messages first before sending them. Finally, a waveform visualisation provides a visual representation of the sound of the voice message.

Note that almost all of these features have long been available in open source, transparently funded Signal, which has the same encryption as WhatsApp, but better data protection and is overall more reliable. It's not for nothing that it's recommended Elon Musk .