Whatsapp quietly added 7 new features in the latest version (ver 2.16.145) that were spotted by Android Police and they affect several sections within the app
What are these seven features?1. Infinite scroll buttonWe take for granted the infinite scroll button which has become standard in websites and some apps. It saves you time scrolling to the bottom of the page and if you are involved in a lengthy chat with your friend or in a group while on a messaging app, scrolling to the bottom will require a lot of scrolling.
2. Notification for a group avatar changeIn the new update, if you change the avatar of a group, there will be a notification that will be sent in the chat timeline showing you the old versus the new one, presumably to notify the members.
3. Missed call notificationPreviously when you got a missed call, it was shown in the Calls tab in a scrollable list. WhatsApp has now added an extra notification within the chat timeline of the person you were conversing with.
4. New UI for creating broadcasts and groupsWhatsApp made a huge material design change for the Android app and that was a while ago. It brought about a new design which we love and now they have updated the group and broadcast interfaces. You will be able to select contacts which will be highlighted at the top with huge thumbnails which you can remove at will.
5. Olympic Games emojiWe are in an Olympic year and they are one of the most watched sporting events in the world. Social networking platforms always jump on the bandwagon of these sports and in WhatsApp case, they have the Olympic Games emoji which is their logo that got “emojified.”
6. Actions for unknown contactsSometimes you get messages on WhatsApp from people who you haven’t saved their contacts in your phone book. Previously, you were given a block and add tabs but now, you have been given a menu list with three options: Report Spam, Block and Add to Contacts which is convenient.
7. Error message of unsupported phonesThis is the most interesting update but it is not old news. Back in February, WhatsApp said that they would drop support for older devices which included older versions of Android. They have implemented this in this update where you will receive this error message.
