Meta-owned personal messaging platform, WhatsApp has added new features to enhance the user’s chatting/messaging experience while using the app.
One, the Typing Indicator feature, is an updated existing feature while the other, the Voice Note Transcription feature is new.
Typing Indicators
WhatsApp is rolling out a new Typing Indicators feature to improve the real-time engagement in chats.
Typing Indicators is the new visual cue that users will see when the other person is typing on WhatsApp.
Instead of the existing ‘Typing’ visual cue, users will now see the ‘…’ cue at the bottom of their screen along with the profile picture of the person typing the message.
The feature is available both in personal chats and group conversations.
The new feature is aimed at helping WhatsApp users identify who is typing a message quickly with the addition of profile pictures as a visual cue.
The new Typing Indicators would be especially useful during group chats as WhatsApp will add the profile pictures of all the participants who are typing a new message.
This makes it easier for the receiver/participants in the group chat to anticipate a new message and plan their reply accordingly.
The Typing Indicators update was first spotted in the beta stages by WABetainfo and the feature is now rolling out to all users on Android and iOS.
Voice Note Transcription feature:
WhatsApp has also recently introduced a new Voice Note Transcription feature which allows users to read a voice message instead of listening to it.
WhatsApp has not expressly addressed the question on whether the company is using AI to transcribe voice messages into text.
However, the messaging app has assured users that voice messages remain end-to-end encrypted as transcripts are generated on the device itself,
This means no one, including WhatsApp, can listen to the voice messages.
WhatsApp said in a blog post that Voice Transcript feature is presently available only in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.
However users are assured of support for more languages to be added soon.
