WhatsApp reportedly testing inline image style for notification, dark theme mode, swipe to reply gesture
WhatsApp has begun testing ‘MessagingStyle’ inline images support for the notification panel. With the Android Pie now available for a few smartphones including Google Pixel series and OnePlus 6, WhatsApp has added Android Pie’s native notification inline photos on its cross-platform messaging service, as per Android Police.
WhatsApp currently said to be testing the feature in beta channel, Android Police spotted the ‘change’ in Android Beta version 2.18.291. According to the report, the new feature will allow the WhatsApp image notification to expand and collapse to show the picture. The inline photos will only support devices running Android 9 Pie. Android Police further cites that the feature will not work for GIFs and videos and they will still show up a small icon indicating the user that they received them, but those won’t be collapsible or expand for preview. When an image is sent in WhatsApp group, user will still get the image inline among the messages in the expanded notification, but when collapsed it will move to the right with the group icon sitting next to it, as per the report.
Android Police stated that the MessagingStyle inline images will work only on Android 9 Pie devices and phones running older versions of Android won’t be able to see image preview in beta or even ‘after the stable release.’
WhatsApp has added a new stickers pack: it’s called “Biscuit”.
The stickers feature will be available in future. pic.twitter.com/ZLD5P4SBgb— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) September 21, 2018
In another report, WABetaInfo, the reliable WhatsApp leaker revealed that a new sticker pack under the moniker ‘Biscuit’ has been added to the messaging platform. WABetaInfo posting the preview of the new stickers on Twitter said that it will be available in the future build. Meanwhile, reports further suggest that the Facebook-owned company might add a few other features like dark theme mode and swipe to reply gesture to make it easier replying to chats both on iOS and Android platform.