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WhatsApp testing chat pinning, photo albums, message revoking & other upcoming features

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2017

The popular messaging app WhatsApp is experimenting with a new pinning feature in the chat list that, when released for everyone, will permit you to stick up to three contacts to the top of the conversation list, regardless of when they last messaged you.

As first noted by AndroidPolice, it was spotted in the latest beta builds of WhatsApp for Android. Other features in an iOS beta of the app include albums, the ability to revoke a message after it's been sent, sending your real-time location to friends and family and more.

WhatsApp Albums, another upcoming feature, is in its early stages of development. Eventually, it will let you create custom albums of photos for sharing with individuals and groups.

Like other WhatsApp features, albums use end-to-end encryption.

According to WABetaInfo on Twitter, the unsend feature may be remotely enabled in the latest stable version of WhatsApp. Full support for rich notifications is being worked on, too.

Recent WhatsApp updates brought us improvements like the ability for Siri to read aloud newly received messages, text-only statuses, two-step verification for your account, sending messages offline, searching for animated GIFs from Gify and more.

You can join the WhatsApp for Android beta channel on Google's Play Store, by tapping Join Beta at the bottom of the listing. WhatsApp for iPhone betas require a jailbroken device.

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WhatsApp for iPhone gains Siri voice support for reading new messages & other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 21, 2017

The popular messaging app WhatsApp for iPhone was update yesterday with a few new features, bringing the ability to have Siri read new messages you have received via the service. The Facebook-owned software now supports the Persian language while the Group Info, Contact Info and Calls sections have been revamped to make them easier to use. WhatsApp's two-factor authentication interface was tweaked as well.

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Facebook Messenger gaining curated Discover tab

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 18, 2017

Facebook’s annual developers conference, F8, is underway this week and the social networking firm just announced that its mobile Messenger app is gaining a new tab to help users find their recently used bots, nearby places and businesses to message. Titled Discover, the new tab has started to roll out to a few people in the US today ahead of wider availability.

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Facebook confirms Apple Music integration coming soon to Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Apple has offered an Apple Music API for some time now and Facebook leveraged it to integrate the service with Music Stories, a song-sharing feature available within its mainland iOS app. Soon, Apple Music will integrate with the Messenger platform, too (currently used by more than 1.2 billion people every month). At the F8 conference today, the social networking behemoth announced that Spotify integration will be available on Messenger at launch and Apple Music real soon.

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You can now watch YouTube videos while you do other things on Viber for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 14, 2017

The mobile Viber app today received an interesting update that enables a special mode for enjoying YouTube clips without having to leave the app, which  resembles iOS 9' picture in picture feature on iPad. As part of Viber versions 6.8.2 for iOS, tapping a YouTube URL sent or received in a conversation now brings up a floating overlay that can be moved around so that you can enjoy the video in minimized view while you do other things within the app.

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Facebook unveils group payments via Messenger for desktop

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2017

Facebook announced this morning that sending or receiving money between groups of people is now supported on the Messenger service. The social networking company debuted peer-to-peer payments on Messenger in March 2015. The new group payments feature, currently limited to users in the United States, is available starting today on Messenger for Android and via the company's desktop app at messenger.com. Group mobile payments will be coming to Messenger for iPhone and iPad at a later stage.

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Facebook launches revamped message compose interface on Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2017

As part of today's rollout of Facebook's AI-powered personal assistant to all users in the United States, the social networking company mentioned that you should now start seeing a redesigned message compose interface within the mobile Messenger app. We first caught wind of this new iOS 10 Messages-style chat experience two months ago.

At the time, Facebook was still testing the redesign with a small percentage of users. The new way to compose messages is currently rolling out to Messenger users across the globe so check back in a few days if it's currently unavailable to you.

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Facebook launches AI assistant in Messenger to all U.S. users with suggestions based on chats

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2017

Facebook today announced that M, its AI-powered personal assistant in the mobile Messenger app, is now available to everyone in the United States with a new suggestions feature. Suggestions from M appear when it recognizes intent in a conversation. Initially, M will suggest about half a dozen actions, including getting a ride via Lyft or Uber, paying or requesting money, sending stickers and more. M is launching today to all iOS and Android users in the U.S. and will eventually roll out to other countries.

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File sharing hits Google’s Allo app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 22, 2017

Google held a media event today in São Paulo, Brazil, revealing that its messaging app Allo, which debuted last September, has gained a pair of new features: file sharing in group chats and support for the app's Smart Smiley feature in Portuguese. Noting a lot of users have requested the ability to share documents in group chats, Google said that Android users everywhere can now share documents with friends on Allo, including files like PDF documents, ZIP archives, MP3 tracks and more.

Google didn't say when file sharing might hit Allo for iOS, but it shouldn't be too long.

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WhatsApp brings back text-only status, adds new features in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 22, 2017

A few weeks ago, WhatsApp rolled out auto-vanishing slideshows with photos, videos, emoji characters, drawings and more. Called Status, it supplanted WhatsApp's text-only feature that's been part of the app since its inception. Turns out many users are hating the change, turning to social media to express their disdain with WhatsApp's relentless cloning of Snapchat. WhatsApp developers responded by promising to bring back text-only statuses.

Today, WhatsApp for iPhone was updated with the addition of text-only statuses, called About, whilst gaining a few new features.

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