WhatsApp is adding a new image search feature and six other updates

A number of new features that WhatsApp plans to roll out might significantly improve your game.

Everything has been changed to a consistent green color over the past few months as part of the brand’s redesign, which sparked a social media outrage.

Additionally, the application has added “Meta AI” capabilities, which enable users to ask questions, get conversation starters, and impart knowledge.

What plans does WhatsApp have for the future? It turns out that the status bar is involved in a few things. Anyone up for Facebook 2.0?

Upgrade to video calls which can be done in a group

Group calls are about to get more exciting because soon people will be able to have backgrounds and filters on their video calls.

Some of the options will be quite fun and people can choose to have a generic living room, or a simple blur effect, as well as being in a fake office or a cafe, or themes including pebbles, food and something called smoosh.

You could also choose to have a background of being on a beach, in front of a sunset, at a celebration or in a forest.

Filters are even an option, where you will be able to have warm, cool, black & white, light leak, dreamy, prism light, fisheye, vintage tv, frosted glass and duo tone.

WhatsApp has said this feature has not been released just yet, but it will be coming out in the next few weeks.

New image search feature

Right now, this feature is available for users of WhatsApp beta for Android but it’s a pretty cool one.

This update will allow users to search shared images on the web. But what does that mean exactly?

The image search tool will allow you to find more information about a specific image you have received so you can see if the image is fake or out of context to tackle misinformation.

The way this will work, according to WABetaInfo, is when users initiate a search for an image, it will be uploaded to Google to find it for you, but this will not be shared within WhatsApp.

As a result, users may also use this feature to look at the legitimacy of images shared in their conversations from news stories, social media posts or even memes.

View messages in draft

Also available in beta form for iPhone and Android, this useful feature will help you keep messages in a draft form in case you want to save them for later or you just need to make a note.

The unsent message will come up in the ‘saved draft’ feature, in a similar way to Instagram, which will make it easier to spot rather than having to open an individual chat.

WABetaInfo said: ‘This feature is particularly useful as it allows users to keep track of conversations that have been left incomplete without needing to open each chat individually.’

You can mention people in your status update

This feature has already begun to roll out but just proves how quickly WhatsApp engineers are working.

In this feature, called Private Mentions, you will be able to tag specific people who you want to see your status.

These lucky people will be notified directly and privately, and the mentions won’t appear anywhere on your status.

Those you tag with Private Mentions will be able to re-share your status.

New default chat themes

If you don’t like the WhatsApp green, this could be the move for you.

WhatsApp is introducing a new default chat theme which will allow users to customise the appearance of their chat by selecting their preferred colour for chat bubbles and wallpapers.

And soon users will be able to pick their favourite.

WABetaInfo said: ‘As you can see from the attached screenshot, WhatsApp is exploring the implementation of new themes with multiple design styles for the Android app, scheduled for release in a future update.’

Block messages from unknown contacts

In their ongoing mission to protect privacy, WhatsApp will be rolling out a new feature that will block messages from unknown accounts.

This means WhatsApp will automatically block messages from unknown accounts if they exceed a certain volume of message in an aim to protect users from unwanted or potentially harmful messages.

This feature will also reduce the amount of spam and unwanted messages that can strain the app. However, there has been no news on when this feature will be released.

Privacy is a big priority for WhatsApp

Create polls in status updates

In a measure of true popularity, WhatsApp will be adding poll stickers to status updates in case you wanted to ask a question specifically on your WhatsApp status.

This means that others will be able to vote on your status poll, but will not be able to see who else voted for which option.

The feature will appear as a content sticker, making it easier for users to place a poll directly onto a status update.

WABetaInfo said: ‘While it’s still unclear how votes are transmitted to other people who view the status update, we can already confirm that the overall process ensures that polls shared via status updates will be end-to-end encrypted. This encryption means that the content of the poll, including its options and results, is securely transmitted and can only be accessed by the status creator and the viewers.’

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