WhatsApp appears to be working on emoji message reactions

Damien Wilde | Aug 25 2021 - 2:52 am PT

The slow but steady evolution of WhatsApp continues with yet more features apparently in the works as evidence suggests the cross-platform messenger is set to gain a message reaction feature.

Message reactions are nothing new and have been part of plenty of messaging platforms from iMessage to Google Messages, leaving WhatsApp as one of the few “large” messaging apps to be without the feature. According to WABetaInfo, we could soon be able to add reactions to messages sent by our friends and contacts.

In basic terms, message reactions just allow you to add a present array of emoji responses to messages you’ve received. By no means is this a killer feature, but it can save time if you are just agreeing to something a contact has said or maybe even as a rudimentary poll in group chats. It’s not entirely clear though if you can use any emoji or — like many other apps — only a preset selection will be available.

So, to be clear, message reactions are not live in WhatsApp as yet, but the feature is actively being developed and could soon arrive across iOS, Android, and desktop according to WABetaInfo. By delving into the Android version of the app, they have unearthed a message pop-up that prompts users to update to see a message reaction.

The recent ability to transfer your entire chat and message history from iOS to Android is likely a much bigger deal than the ability to just add reactions to incoming WhatsApp messages. That said, this is still a nice addition that probably should have been available a long time ago.