Here’s Your First Look at WhatsApp Message Reactions

Sep. 4, 2021

Last week, WhatsApp wasspotted working on message reactions. However, when tipsterWABetaInfofirst discovered the feature, it was not live yet and we didn’t get to see an early preview. That’s no longer the case, asWABetaInfohas now managed to go hands-on with the feature on WhatsApp for iOS. The report also contains a few tidbits on how message reactions would work on WhatsApp.

First Look at WhatsApp Message Reactions

Interestingly, at this stage of development, it’s possible toreact to a message using multiple emojis. As you can see in the image shared byWABetaInfo, one message in a chat with a business account has a total of 7 reactions. However, if I were to guess, it’s highly likely that WhatsApp will limit the number of reactions from a single person in a message to one — just like Facebook andInstagram message reactions.

Moreover, it looks likeyou can choose between any supported emoji WhatsApp has to offer. This way, you can easily express how you are feeling,unlike Twitter where the emoji react options are limitedand you can’t even angry react to messages.

It’s also worth mentioning thatmessage reactions are not anonymous. Everyone in the chat will be able to see who reacted to a message and the emoji you reacted with. Hence, you will have to proceed with caution if you are planning to react to messages in serious group chats.

Going by Facebook’s implementation of message reactions in Instagram, it’s safe to assume that long-pressing a message would bring up the panel with emoji reactions. As of this writing, the WhatsApp message reactions feature is not live on Android or iOS apps, even in the beta builds. We could expect that to change in the coming months as WhatsApp gets ready to roll out message reactions.

Featured Image Courtesy: WABetaInfo

Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.