WhatsApp will now let users pause and resume recordings mmid-way through making a voice note, according to the Meta-owned firm.
The update to the popular messaging platform come as CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed users send seven billion voice messages every day.
‘We’ve just added some new features including Out of Chat Playback, Pausable Recording and Draft Preview to make it easier to send and listen to your messages. I hope you enjoy them,’ Zuckerberg announced.
The firm confirmed six new features related to voice messages, including listening outside of a chat, a visual representation of the sound, and a preview before posting.
Voice messaging in WhatsApp was first launched in 2013, with the aim of offering people a quick way to communicate without having to type.
It proved instantly popular, and the latest usage figures suggest there is no sign of that changing. Messages are also encrypted end-to-end.
‘By keeping the design simple, we’ve made recording and sending a voice message as quick and easy as writing a text,’ a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
‘Voice messages make it easy for people to have more expressive conversations. Showing emotion or excitement through voice is more natural than text.’
Zuckerberg revealed a number of new features, aimed at making a conversation over voice messages easier for the sender, and the listener.
Some of these are features users have been asking for, including the ability to pause recordings mid-way, rather than have to start from scratch if you make a mistake.
On the opposite side, if you stop listening to a voice message, currently it goes back to the start, but now it will remember your last position – so you can pick it up again.
These are all ‘added value’ types of features, that enhance the function of voice messages, including the ability to ‘pop out’ the player, listening while out of the chat window, allowing users to carry out other tasks such as reading other messages.
Being able to pause and resume recording, while recording a voice message, is one of the most widely requested, which WhatsApp says will be useful if ‘you’re interrupted or need to gather your thoughts.’
In a feature that should have been there from the start, users will also be able to listen back to the messages before sending them – similar to iMessage.
As well as making it easier to record, WhatsApp has improved the way the voice message player looks, adding a visual component.
This is in the form of a waveform, that moves to the sound on the voice message.
Finally, users will be able to speed up playback on a message forwarded to them by other people – at 1.5x or twice the speed it was recorded.
‘In many situations, voice messages are the preferred form of communication on WhatsApp,’ a spokesperson explained.
‘It’s simple for anyone to use – for your family members who prefer to avoid typing, for your friends who love to tell stories, for your peers who need encouraging words, or for when you want to hear your partner’s voice at the end of a long day.’
NEW WHATSAPP VOICE MESSAGE FEATURES CONFIRMED BY META
Out of Chat Playback: Listen to a voice message outside of the chat so you can multitask or read and respond to other messages.
Pause/Resume Recording: When recording a voice message, you can now pause the recording and resume when ready, in case you’re interrupted or need to gather your thoughts.
Waveform Visualization: Shows a visual representation of the sound on the voice message to help follow the recording.
Draft Preview: Listen to your voice messages before sending them.
Remember Playback: If you pause when listening to a voice message, you can pick up where you left off when you return to the chat.
Fast Playback on Forwarded Messages: Play voice messages at 1.5x or 2x speeds to listen to messages faster on both regular and forwarded messages.
