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#TECH: WhatsApp adds more privacy features

KUALA LUMPUR: WhatsApp has added 20 new features to make it more private.

WhatsApp's head, Will Cathcart, said that 2022 as the biggest year of innovation for the communications platform.

"2022 was our biggest year yet. Our team was so excited to build Communities, Reactions, Polls, Avatars, 32-person video calling, and so much more. Thank you everyone who gave us feedback on how to make WhatsApp even better. There's a lot more coming in 2023," he said.

LAYERS OF PRIVACY

Users can now control who sees their last seen and if they are online via the privacy settings.

* Hide your online status: Users can now control who sees their last seen and if they're online via the privacy settings.

*Leave the group silently: Now, only your admins will know you've left.

*Accidental delete: undo the 'delete for me' feature.

COMMUNITIES

Made for schools, local clubs or workplace, Communities bring multiple groups under one umbrella and give admins tools such as announcement group and make sub-groups too.

NEW GROUP FEATURES

Whatsapp also introduces new group messaging features, creating in-chat polls, adding up to 1,024 members, and admin delete for deleting problematic messages.

VOICE AND VIDEO CALLING

WhatsApp as also added improvements for voice and video calls:

*32-percon calls: Now, users can do video calls with up to 32 people.

*Messages or mute call participants: Users can mute or separately message a participant by long pressing on them.

*Call links: Invite people to a group call by sharing a call link.

*In-call banner notification: Get notified when someone new joins a group call.

VOICE MESSAGES

In March, WhatsApp introduced several improvements on the feature which are:

*Out of chat playback: Multitalk and read or respond to other messages.

*Pause/resume recording: Swipe to lock the recording button and hit pause or resume as much as you need.

*Draft preview: Listen to your voice messages before sending or bin it if you dislike it.

*Remember playback: Pick up where you left off for voice messages.

*Fast playback: Play voice messages at 1.5x or 2x speed.

EXPRESS YOURSELF

WhatsApp has added features for you to express yourself better.

Emoji reactions: React to messages with emojis.

Avatars: Create your own avatar for your profile photos (public or private) or as one of 36 custom stickers.

Status updates: You can see a ring on someone's profile when they added a status. You can react with an emoji reaction.

ENHANCED UTILITY

This year, WhatsApp has added features to ease things

*Message yourself: Send messages, reminders, to-dos, moments, etc are in one place.

*2GB file sharing: Share 2GB files, photos and videos instead of the previous 100MB limit.

*Migrate chars from Android to iOS or vice versa: Transfer account information, settings, profile photo, and chat history between operating systems.

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