Since Meta acquired WhatsApp over a decade ago, it has updated the app withmodern communication toolslike status updates, channels, and communities. However, many features seem borrowed from other Meta properties like Instagram. Recent WhatsApp beta testing for features likecontact taggingin status updates,AI photo editing tools, and direct Instagramaccount linking, all point to the company’s intention of blurring the line between the two apps. The latest feature sighting reaffirms such suspicions.
10 years of WhatsApp under Meta ownership: Feels like one long day
We’ve seen loads of copy-pasting over the years
In its current state, WhatsApp allows responding to status updates with a textual reply, and swiping up reveals a selection of eight generic emojis you could use instead. In comparison, Instagram has a prominentLikebutton right beside the reply bar which sends a heart emoji reaction in direct messages. It’s easy to see how the latter is easier to use because it takes fewer taps.
Turns out, WhatsApp is working on effectively porting the Like button for status reactions to WhatsApp mostly unchanged. Reputable feature spotter@AssembleDebug on X(formerly Twitter) was able to activate aLikebutton beside the Reply field in status updates on version 2.24.8.6 of the app. Unlike Instagram’s implementation with white lines for the iconography, WhatsApp uses green and this button looks finished, and just shy of a release. However, attempts to use the button make the app crash.
This inclusion should make it easier to respond to status updates your contacts post, but WhatsApp is going a step further and bringing Instagram-style emoji reactions to media shared in conversations as well.
Reacting to media in chats
Currently, reacting to photos and videos shared in a conversation using emoji can be challenging. First, you need to exit the full-screen image preview if it is active, then tap and hold an image, and then pick from one of six readily available emoji, or hit thePlusicon to pick from the full catalog. Unlike status updates, emoji reactions aren’t integrated into the full-screen previews for files in chats.
AssembleDebug sharesthat’s in the works too, with WhatsApp working on a newReplybar with anEmojibutton on the right, visible even when you have an image or video playing in full-screen mode. Once widely available, this option should show up across WhatsApp, in group chats and conversations with individuals alike. Tapping the emoji button opens the same flyout with six options you see when you long-press the thumbnail in the chat.
Existing reactions will show up in full-screen view as well, just above the Reply field. While it isn’t clear if using the Reply field will send a regular message or a contextual response quoting the image in question, we hope WhatsApp implements the latter. Like the status reaction feature, this one should make remote shopping and discussions about images much easier in chats, especially if you use emoji often. There’s no telling when availability may commence, though.
