WhatsApp is rolling out a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.23.18.3.
What’s new in this update? WhatsApp is working on a new message menu to send view once images and videos, and it will be available in a future update of the app!
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Name of the feature? | Message menu – view once |
| Status? | Under development |
| Availability? | WhatsApp is working on bringing a new message menu to a future update of the app. |
| I’ve installed this update but I don’t have this feature. Why? | This feature is under development so it’s not ready for beta testers, but you can discover a preview in this article. |
| Thanks: | Swakshan, for collaborating, testing, and reporting. |
| Previous news? | WhatsApp for iOS 23.16.78: what’s new? WhatsApp is widely rolling out a video message feature, along with a screen-sharing option! |
MESSAGE MENU
WhatsApp is continuing to work on improving the interface of the app. Today, we’re discussing about the upcoming changes regarding view once images and videos. Specifically, WhatsApp is exploring a new way to set photos and videos as view once. Currently, there’s an icon within the caption bar that allows users to set the media as view once. Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.18.3 update, which is available on the Google Play Store, we’ve discovered that WhatsApp has plans to change how users can set view once images and videos in the future:
As you can see in the attached screenshot, WhatsApp will inform users that they have to press and hold the send button to set the image as a view once message. Following the press and hold action, a new menu will appear, allowing the user to choose to send the image as a view once message. The same applies to videos as well, but note that it’s not possible to send GIFs in view once mode, even with the new message menu. However, we don’t exclude the possibility that WhatsApp might allow users to send GIFs in this mode as the view once feature is moving in the future.
The enhancements for the send buttons are necessary as WhatsApp plans to extend the view once feature to other types of media, such as text messages, as announced in the article about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.25.20 update, and audio messages, revealed with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.7.8 update. In our opinion, this will be the most convenient way to send any type of message as view once.
The new message menu to send view once images and videos is under development and it will be available in a future update of the app. As always, we plan to share a new article when we have further information regarding this feature.
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