WhatsApp Announced That Emoji Reactions Are Coming To The Platform!
WhatsApp announced that it's adding emoji reactions to its chat app last Thursday. The feature finally lets you directly react to a chat bubble without having to send an individual emoji as a message.
The company announced reactions alongside its new Communities feature, which aims to help organizations that use the app as a conversation platform like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organizations. Meta spokesperson Joshua Breckman told The Verge that reactions will be available on all chats when they launch, which will be "soon."
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"Organizations like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organizations now rely on WhatsApp to communicate securely and get things done - especially since the pandemic forced us all to find creative ways to work together while apart. Given lots of feedback we've received, we think there's more we can do to make it easier to help people manage these busy conversations among these kinds of groups," WhatsApp said on their blog post.
The feature will be relatively limited at the onset. Only six of the most common emojis will be available for reaction. However, Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, said that it will support "all emojis and skin tones" in the future.
WhatsApp also announced that it'll let users share much larger files, setting the max file size at 2GB, up from 100MB. It's also increased the number of people that can be on a voice call at once from eight to 32.
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The company went on to reiterate that Communities are inherently private and that they will continue to protect messages in the feature with end-to-end encryption. "Close-knit groups - schools, members of a religious congregation, even businesses - very much want and need to be able to have secure and private conversations without WhatsApp monitoring their every word," the post explained.
Further details on how the company maintains privacy, safety, and security for Communities can be read on their FAQ page.
