WhatsApp will soon save you the time of rewriting your text captions for photos, videos and GIFs. (Express Photo)WhatsApp’s handy ability to forward media files is perhaps one of the app’s most used features on iOS as well as Android. The feature lets you quickly forward any pictures, videos and GIFs that you receive from one account to another. However, these forwarded messages could never include any original text caption. That could change with a future WhatsApp update.
A new version of WhatsApp Beta, spotted first by WABetaInfo includes the ability to forward media-bearing messages with their included text captions. This feature is under testing and was reportedly only made available to a select number of beta testers.
However, this is still positive news for all WhatsApp users. The feature being in testing could mean it may only be a matter of time before we get to see it in action. The handy addition will make sharing images, videos and GIFs along with some context easier, as users will be able to forward both received messages and ones they have sent previously, to other users without needing to retype the caption.
A screenshot shared by WABetaInfo also shows the feature in action. Judging by the image, the feature will let users either forward a media message with the caption, but the presence of a text box in the UI at this point also suggests users may be able to make quick changes to the caption before forwarding the message.
Currently only available for select beta testers on Android, the feature could eventually make it to beta users on iOS as well, before being available on the stable channel, which is when most WhatsApp users will be able to use the feature.