WhatsApp is hugely popular, and with good reason. The app has delivered expanded features over the years to become among the most robust messaging services. One of those features was the ability to send voice messages. Now, WhatsApp is making a small, but hugely important, change to push-to-talk.
Since launching voice recording messaging in 2013, little has changes with the system. Users press a button speak, and then release the button to send. Easy, yes, but also potentially hugely frustrating.
Pressing the button was annoying sometimes because fingers slip. The message would send, or you are stopped in mid-speech. It is not a major problem, but a minor gripe that I am sure millions share with me.
Under a new system, WhatsApp will ow display a sliding interface when the record button is pressed. After less than a second, users will see an option to swipe up to select recording mode. Once in recording mode, there is no need to press the button or screen. Indeed, the phone can be set down on a surface.
Pressing to end the recording will take you out of microphone mode. Again, this is a simple but welcome touch. Not only does it avoid the dreaded finger slip, but it also allows users to browser through messages as they record. While this was possible before, it was a task of dexterity to accomplish.
Limitations
There are some limitations worth discussing. For example, users will not be able to see images or videos when the microphone lock is on. Also, while you can see your messages, it is impossible to type any new texts into the window. We expect this may be something WhatsApp adds in the future.
WhatsApp is currently testing the new feature, so it is not available yet. However, WABetaInfo has found an internal demo of the swipe to record ability in action.
