WhatsApp is known to be testing new features both on Android, as well iOS from time to time. Post the release of WhatsApp Status, a Snapchat-exclusive feature which now exists in every Facebook-owned app, the messaging giant is now looking to enhance your user experience by adding nifty new features. These have been requested for long and should be making their way to the official apps very shortly.
It has long been rumored that WhatsApp is mulling over the decision to bring along an unsend or revoke feature to its platform. The said feature, which allows you to delete sent messages within a limited time window, was initially spotted last year in an iOS beta but there have been not many updates on this front of late. However, the rumor mill is again churning and the revoking feature has now surfaced in a beta version of WhatsApp’s web version.
As expected, the messiah of spotting beta feature, Twitter user @WABetaInfo is once again behind this leak. In his tweet, WhatsApp Web version 0.2.4077 is said to have received the ‘unsend’ feature that allows you to revoke any sent message within 5 minutes. But, any sent message is there to stay post the five-minute window. A similar feature which allows you to delete any sent message within 48 hours is already available in messaging client Telegram.
To our dismay, the revoke feature is currently disabled (or hidden) and not accessible to all. This, however, reassures that the feature is currently in the works, it is being tested and should make its way to our apps soon. The screenshot attached in the tweet shows how the unsent message would look like on the web version. It will carry a tag saying — ‘message unsent’.
WhatsApp Web 0.2.4077: many improvements for the revoke feature & you’ll be able to unsend messages sent within 5 minutes (DISABLED NOW). pic.twitter.com/2qj28JEwyi
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) April 12, 2017
However, this is not the only feature spotted by @WABetaInfo in the beta update being rolled out for the Facebook-owned message platform. As you may already be aware, WhatsApp allows you to send formatted text messages, with a range of options such as bold, italics and strikethrough, when you write an excerpt of text between certain special characters.
But, isn’t that a massive chore as you also have to remember and insert certain characters to format any message. Thus, it now seems WhatsApp is looking to simplify this process as well.
Currently, you are required to place the text between two asterisks (*), like *this* to make the content bold. While other commands are — underscore ( _ ) for italics and tildes (~) for strikethrough. But, spotted in Android Beta version 2.17.148 are font shortcuts for formatting text using bold, italics, and strikethrough commands.
The same have been made available to users in different ways, depending on the flavor of their Android software. The difference can be seen in the tweets attached underneath. This feature will remove the need for writing the text between special characters to stylize it before sending out the message. It is also currently hidden in the beta app, with no word on the official release both on Android and iOS.
Note that the menu item might be different.
It might depend by your Android version, in fact some followers have this: pic.twitter.com/m0Dz16D7Ks— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) April 13, 2017
WhatsApp beta for Android 2.17.148: new font shortcuts. pic.twitter.com/BLrHQ3dtX0
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) April 13, 2017
Wouldn’t these features be two pretty neat additions to WhatsApp? Comment your thoughts down below.
