With the advancement of new technologies, sending messages have become faster and efficient. Few years back, the text messages were the popular mode of communication and that many mobile service providers limited the number of messages sent in a day. Later, the over the top (OTT) apps were introduced in the market that offers unlimited messaging service and requires only an internet connection. Some of the instant messaging apps are the Kakao, Facebook messenger, Hangouts, Skype, GroupMe, Google Allo and WhatsApp. All these apps have the same set of functionalities, but have special features that differentiate them among each other. For example, the Google Allo provides one of the best mobile centered instant messaging platforms, while the Skype is the best app for the video call option.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging apps and for the past seven years since 2009 it has shown immense growth in its development and progress. The number of users accessing the app keeps increasing each year, each day. As the user base increases, from the development point of view the company keeps increasing new features and updating the app at regular intervals.
Share contents with multiple contacts at the same time
There are many features being introduced by WhatsApp, out of which, the voicemail feature is one of the features. Initially it was introduced for the iPhone users and then the company has released an Android version that is available on the Google Play store. An added version of this beta feature is that, the Android users can now share the contents with multiple groups and contacts simultaneously. Therefore, the voicemail and call feature can be experienced by the Android users through the updated version (v2. 16.225). If the WhatsApp call is not answered, the new feature gives the Android users the ability to leave a voicemail. The feature is similar to the voice message, but the only difference is that the user cannot listen to the text before sending it to the other person; the user can also send secret messages from by sending the text within double quotes. With the earlier version, the Android users were able to send contest contents to single contacts at a time, but with the help of the new version, people can forward the contents to multiple users at a time.
How to access the feature
The users who wish to send contents like the documents, images, videos or text from their device is now possible with the new feature introduced by the company. First, the user has to select the share or send option from the particular app and choose WhatsApp. Then, the user has to select one of the contacts from the list and long press against the contact, soon the option to select multiple users appears on the screen, so that user can select the number of recipients. The user can select group a chats or individuals together. This helps the user to complete the task within few clicks rather than selecting each user from the contact list. Also, to enhance the feature, the instant messenger app shows the top three frequent chats that make the process of sharing the contents much easier. The users can follow the same process, if they wish to forward the contents. To view the new feature, one has to register them for the Google play’s beta testing program for the instant messenger app and download the build from the store or they can download the apk package from the APK Mirror.
The company recently introduced the feature that allows the user to zoom in and out, when recording a video using the app and even released big emojis.
Impossible made possible
There are many new features introduced in accessing the app that enhances the user interface and thereby creating a large user base. But this instant messenger app lacked in the aspect that is the app had the inability to send GIF files among the users accessing the app. However, technically it is possible by rooting the mobile phone, but is not comfortable among the WhatsApp users.
For those people who does not wish to download unauthorized folders or root their mobile phones can be at ease with the release of the new feature introduced instant messenger app. Because there is a new feature that supports the sharing of animated gif images and small video contents as gif folders. This new feature can convert a six second or less video into a gif image. This feature is available for the users who are running the beta version from 2.16.242 to 2.16.244. Theses beta versions are available in the Google Play store that supports the gif feature. According to the report, the feature was first supported by v2.16.242, but the Gadget 360 tested the new feature in the beta version v2.16.242 to v2.16.244 of the instant messenger app for the Android devices.
The process of sending video files
The Android beta users who wish to send the gif images must first move to the attachment icon that is available on the top corner in the chat screen in the instant messenger app. Once when the user selects the attachment icon, the user is headed to the option that allows them to record the video. The video must not be more than six seconds. Before sending the recorded video to the others in the contact list, a video trimming page appears on the screen. At the top right corner of the page, the camcorder icon appears which will convert the recorded video into gif image. Apart from the recorded video, the user can also send the video that is available in the gallery that is either six or less than six seconds. If the video is more than six seconds, the user can make use of the video trimmer build in feature that is present in the app. If the user wishes to attach an existing video from the some other app and share it through WhatsApp can also use the feature.
The camcorder icon that appears on the top right corner of the screen that converts the video file to gif image will appear only if the video is either six or less than six seconds. If the camcorder does not appear on the screen, then it means that the video is more than six seconds. The official report states that the files are converted and then are transmitted as audio less mp4 files that automatically play in line in the chat window. The files that are sent and received by the user are saved in the app. The user can view these details by going to WhatsApp and go to the Media folder that is present in the app. The user has to select the WhatsApp Animated gif from the Media option; the files are saved as mp4 files in the folder.
The users receive a notification on the front end that they have received a gif image and it is also available in the chat window.
Initially, the new gif image support feature was planned to be released for the iOs user in the June of this year, but the beta version released for the Android users. The company has not reported about the iOs version of the new feature.
Author Bio
Anand Rajendran is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dectar a well known Software products development and Mobile App Development Company based in Chennai, India. He has extensive experience in building and leading innovative and collaborative software development teams to deliver major software applications like Scimbo - Whatsapp Clone Script. He loves exploring new things and sharing his knowledge with others.