If you’ve ever been frustrated because you’ve been searching through old messages on WhatsApp and you couldn’t find what you were looking for, good news could be on the horizon. It isn’t that the current WhatsApp search function is bad, it is just that it is very basic and has been due an upgrade for quite some time. It looks like that upgrade might finally be on the way.
WhatsApp is developing a new advanced search feature
As usual, WABetaInfo has been poring through the latest WhatsApp beta code to find out what the messaging app is working on. The new WhatsApp advanced search feature has been spotted in the iOS beta version of the app, meaning it is likely that iPhone users will see the feature before Android users do. The WABetaInfo report, however, does quote ‘sources’ as saying the feature will come to Android, too.
Unfortunately, this feature is still at a very early stage of development, which means even members of the WhatsApp for iOS TestFlight beta program still can’t access it. All that has been spotted so far is the code that indicates that the advanced search feature is on the way.
The advanced search will be different from basic search in a number of ways. First off, rather than merely searching text messages, the advanced search feature will allow you to search through different types of messages. These include Photos, GIFs, Videos, Documents, Links, and Audio. The advanced search feature will also show how many messages of each type you have in your WhatsApp storage, and a recent search history.
Another nice feature of the new advanced search is the ability to click on the different types of messages to open up lists of that particular type of message. For example, if you click photos, you’ll see a list of all the different photos you’ve received including previews. This works for all the different types of message and WABetaInfo reports that the preview option will even work for voice notes when advanced search gets a full roll-out. If WhatsApp later adds titles to voice notes, this would make the app a competent voice recording app, too.
As we’ve already said, the advanced search feature is still a long way off, but it is good to see that it is in development. Being able to search through your past messages in an important part of any messaging app. When it does land, the advanced search feature will give WhatsApp one of the best search functions available across all the major messaging apps.
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