WhatsApp is introducing voice messages for all those times when sending short audio recordings is more convenient — or expressive — than typing out a simple message. The voice messaging feature is apparently quite popular, with WhatsApp announcing that an average of 7 billion are sent each day.
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New voice messaging features will make it more flexible to listen to and reply to messages. Playback outside of a conversation will let you tap play on a message and it will continue playing while you message other people.
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The pause and resume recording feature will allow you to take breaks during recording, should there be an interruption, without having to stop and start over. A quick preview feature will allow you to listen to the recording before sending it to someone — which could prove invaluable in avoiding accidentally sending a message to the wrong person.
Other features — which the company seems to have borrowed from podcast apps — could help with listening to longer voicemails. Fast playback will let you listen at 1.5x and 2x speeds. Remember, playback will let you pick up where you left off if you need to pause. There's also a small cosmetic improvement. A waveform representation of the voicemail will appear as the message plays.
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The voice messaging update comes as WhatsApp plans to bring the multi-device feature to public release, which is currently in beta. When it is widely released, it will allow users to use the web version of WhatsApp without having to connect to a phone. The update comes after other services from WhatsApp parent company Meta, such as Facebook and Instagram, were banned in Russia amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Information source: cnet.com
