14 DAY TRIAL // WhatsApp is working on all kinds of refinements for the mobile client on iPhone and Android, and while the company doesn’t typically speak publicly about the changes it has in mind, the beta builds that it ships to testers are a great way to get an early look at most of them.
Most recently, the company has started experimenting with animated heart emoji that could at one point make their way to iPhone and Android.
As noted by WABetaInfo, the animation is rather subtle, but it’s likely to add an extra touch of polishing to the messaging app on both mobile platforms.
Inspired by the animated heart emoji in the desktop client, this update will be available for all heart emoticons available in WhatsApp.
More recent updates
Most recently, WhatsApp has tried to refine the experience with disappearing messages, as the company added new options to control the messages and how long they remain available in the chats.
WhatsApp now allows users to enable the disappearing messages mode by default for certain chats, while also adding more durations for this feature.
“WhatsApp users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages by default for all new chats. When enabled, all new one-on-one chats you or another person start will be set to disappear at your chosen duration, and we've added a new option when creating a group chat that lets you turn it on for groups you create. This new feature is optional and does not change or delete any of your existing chats,” the company said.
“We are also adding two new durations for disappearing messages: 24 hours and 90 days, as well as the existing option of 7 days.”
At this point, there’s no ETA as to when the new animated heart emoji could make their way to the stable version of WhatsApp.