Ever since its inception, WhatsApp has been one of the most popular and successful messaging apps in the smartphone era. With competitors like iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and Android Messages, WhatsApp has seen immense success in both ecosystems, iOS, and Android. Some may argue that the messaging app has enjoyed a lot more success in the Android ecosystem due to the simple features of the native messaging app.
Some major reasons for the success of the messaging app are its thoughtful features, a simple and fast user interface and most of all, an ad-free user experience. With a whopping 1.5 billion users and 60 billion messages (sent per day), WhatsApp has one of the biggest database of active users in the world. In order to satisfy such a big number of users while staying ahead of the competition, WhatsApp is expected to be updated with five new features in 2019.
1. WhatsApp Fingerprint authentication
A recent WhatsApp update in the iOS brought the highly-awaited Apple’s Face ID authentication. XDA developers revealed that the face unlock feature is also coming to the Android version of WhatsApp. As of now, people have been using third-party passcode option on WhatsApp, however, latest news confirms that the messaging app will be incorporating the highly-awaited feature as a native lock option for the users which will decrease the risk of potential security concerns.
2. WhatsApp Dark mode
“Dark mode everything” has been the most requested feature by smartphone users in 2018 because of various reasons. Well, it seems that WhatsApp has listened to its users, according to several leaks the messaging mobile application may bring the ‘dark mode’ feature as part of its upcoming updates. As of now, the users can only change the wallpaper background for their chats that exists as the only minimal means of customization.
3. WhatsApp voice messages
This feature will be particularly useful to those who like to communicate via WhatsApp’s messages. Previously, the user had to tap on every single voice message sent in order to listen to the content of the voice message. However, with the upcoming update in 2019, WhatsApp will now automatically start playing the next voice message after the selected one is finished.
4. WhatsAppp 3D check
This will be an iPhone exclusive feature for obvious reasons, the feature will allow iOS users to reply privately in group chats via a one-on-one chat. Along with this feature, it also provides iOS users with a 3D touch function to check the WhatsApp statuses without sending a read-receipt message to the person whose story the users was looking at.
5. Sticker search and Sticker integration
The emoji-search feature which was brought last year introduced a new level of ease for the emoji-lovers. The messaging app is now replicating the same thing with its ‘Stickers’. The new update will let users search the kind of sticker via text they are looking for and will subsequently provide the available options. Furthermore, the app is also testing an update for stickers with third-party keyboard integration to provide more options for stickers for the user. The first keyboard app that will use the Stickers Integration feature will be GBoard.
