WhatsApp has secretly added a new feature in group chat that enables you to tag a specific person connected to your group. Moreover, the new group chat feature is not as attractive since it doesn’t serve any specific purpose. Spotted by beta testers, the tagging feature is available for Android and iOS platforms. However, you will not be able to work with the group chat feature if you are working with the desktop version.
Even though WhatsApp seems to have added a tagging feature, it doesn’t look useful as claimed. To tag a member in group chat, you simply enter “@” symbol followed by the name of the group member.
Select contacts from the pop-up menu to tag
As a user, you will be able to select a contact from the menu that pops up including the ability to tag multiple contacts in a single message. Interestingly, the displayed popup will have details of all contacts which aren’t saved in your phone book but are part of the group. This feature is similar to that of similar mechanism found in other competing chat software systems like Telegram.
WhatsApp introduced text formatting and reply button
Recently, WhatsApp has introduced several group-chat specific updates such as text formatting. The Facebook-owned mobile messaging app also includes a reply button where you will be able to interact with your friends in one-to-one chat. This is to avoid confusion amidst hundreds of messages.
If you look at the reply button feature, it sounds more useful and practical. However, the tagging feature fails to provide its importance. Meanwhile, you should not neglect the tagging feature since it will be useful in some scenarios to alert one of your contacts.
WhatsApp tagging feature is confusing, claims analysts
According to industry analysts, the introduction of tagging feature makes the chat more confusing instead of providing an organized look. The main purpose of the reply button is to quote the message to provide a detailed view of your conversations.
In the meantime, the tagging feature will not be much useful since it just shows up the name of the tagged contact. If you clock on the name, WhatsApp will redirect you to the profile page of the contact you have tagged.
WhatsApp rolled out front flash
Furthermore, WhatsApp also rolled out an interesting update for Android platform. It enables you to locate a front facing flash when clicking selfies from the WhatsApp’s camera.
You should note that the provided update is only for the WhatsApp camera and not for your smartphone. You will view a flash-type effect on the display while capturing images. This feature will be useful for those handsets which don’t have a front-facing snapper.
With one billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is the most popular mobile-based chat apps. The main reason for the continued success is attributed to the frequent updates and features it has been rolling out frequently.
