WhatsApp Rolling Out New Update, Includes Reactions and Larger File Size Limit

WhatsApp is rolling out a new update on iOS and Android to bring tested features to users around the world. Previously, the Meta-owned company was testing emoji reactions, larger file size limit, and adding up to 512 people to a group. These features are now accessible via the update.

In a blog post, WhatsApp announces that a slew of new features is now available to more users via a software update. “We’re excited to share that emoji reactions are now available on the latest version of the app,” the company writes. As with other social media and messaging apps, users can select an emoji to use as a reaction to a message. This can help reduce message overload and provide ways to respond without having to type out a message.

Currently, only a small number of emojis are supported, including the heart and thumbs up emoji. Though, “an even broader range of expressions” will be added in the future.

In addition, WhatsApp is expanding the file size limit on its platform. Previously, sharable files had to be 100MBs or less. Moving forward, users are able to share files up to 2GBs. This will undoubtedly help as WhatsApp’s file-sharing has become an intregal part of the app more many.

Finally, as a part of the update, WhatsApp is heavily expanding how many users can be placed in a group. The limit is shifted, being brought from 256 to 512. However, WhatsApp notes that in order to continue providing a safe and secure platform, this part of the update is rolling out “slowly” in comparison to the rest.

Many of these features should now be available within the WhatsApp app on iOS and Android in Canada now.