WhatsApp is borrowing a nifty feature from its rival Telegram. The popular instant messaging app is adding a richer preview for documents. This will give you a glimpse at what’s inside the document before downloading the file.
As of now, if someone sends you a document on WhatsApp, be it a photo or video shared as a document or a PDF or DOC file, the app only shows a generic preview with the file name, file type, and its size. You need to download the file to see what it is. But with a new update, WhatsApp will show a richer preview complete with a thumbnail of the file. This will help you identify what’s inside so you can decide whether or not to download it.
First reported by the reliable WhatsApp insiders at WABetaInfo, this feature is rolling out to users of WhatsApp beta version 2.22.5.11 or newer for Android. The previews shown are of rather low quality but things should improve as the company progresses with the initial testings. We will let you know when the public rollout of this feature begins.
WhatsApp is testing another new feature
WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging apps globally. The Meta aka Facebook-owned platform regularly adds new features to improve its offering. Over the past few months, we have spotted the company testing several new features. These include transcription for voice messages, previews for voice notes before sending, a powerful Android-to-iOS chat history transfer tool, and reactions for messages. And now, the company is testing proper previews for shared documents.
As said before, this feature is already available on Telegram. Previews on Telegram are of high quality and appear to the left of the file name and other details. WhatsApp, meanwhile, will show previews on top of the file, at least that’s what the company is testing currently. It could change the layout and design before the public rollout of the feature, which could happen in a few weeks or maybe a few months. You never know. But if you want to test out this feature early, you can sign up for WhatsApp beta here. Note that beta software may be unstable and may not work properly sometimes.
Non-beta users, keep checking for updates for the app on the Google Play Store. You can click the button below to download the latest version of WhatsApp for your Android smartphone.
2022-02-21 15:06:22