WhatsApp is adding Instagram-like Quick Reactions to Status Updates

WhatsApp is constantly evolving and reacting to other apps as it tries to maintain its title as the number one messaging app in the world. Strictly speaking, status updates wouldn’t class as messages, but they are an effective way to communicate with a lot of people at once, which is probably why WhatsApp introduced them in the first place. In this regard though, WhatsApp is miles behind Instagram Stories, which are technically the same thing. That might be why WhatsApp is pinching an Instagram Stories feature for status updates. Let’s check it out.

WhatsApp Download Now

Thanks to WhatsApp’s thriving beta testing community we are able to bring you news of WhatsApp Quick Reactions, a new feature that is currently at the beta testing stage of the development process. The feature had previously been spotted on the WhatsApp beta for desktop, but it has now also been seen on the WhatsApp beta for Android too.

The screenshot above shows Quick Reactions in action. When you view a user’s status update you will be able to quickly react using one of eight pre-defined emojis. When you select one of these emojis it will be sent to the user who posted the status update as a reply.

Interestingly, WhatsApp has recently extended its message reactions feature from a pre-determined selection of emojis to the full emoji keyboard. It is worth speculating at this point, that if this new status updates Quick Reactions feature turns out to be popular then WhatsApp may extend the emoji offering here too. This update also comes hot on the tail of another status update report, as WhatsApp is also working on implementing a voice note feature for status updates too.

There is clearly a lot on the horizon than for WhatsApp status updates, which is just one small part of the messaging app. If you want to make sure you stay on top of all the latest WhatsApp updates, bookmark our WhatsApp News Page and subscribe to push notifications.

Image via: WABetaInfo