WhatsApp new features: Dark mode, ephemeral messages, call waiting & more

WhatsApp is constantly working on new features to make sure its users have the best user experience. The world's largest instant messaging application with over 1.5 billion users has to maintain its dominance by introducing new features. Sometimes, WhatsApp fails to offer the most requested features even when rivals have rolled them out.

The anticipation for dark mode in WhatsApp has been exhausting. A lot of popular apps, including Facebook Messenger, Instagram and others, have already received the dark theme, but WhatsApp hasn't rolled out the update yet. For a long time, the dark mode option was spotted in beta versions, but it never made it to the stable versions. It looks like the wait might finally be over.

The confirmation of dark mode comes via the revelation of another cool feature - self-destructing "delete messages" feature in the latest Android beta update. WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.19.348 confirmed Snapchat-like ephemeral messages in a group and individual chats.

The screenshots shared by WABetaInfo shows toggle button for "Delete Messages" in the contact info for chats. Users can choose from five time-intervals - 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 1 year - post which the messages sent to that chat will disappear. If the user selects any particular time interval, it will apply for all messages until the feature is turned off. It makes no sense to have an option as long as 1 year or even 1 month and it's surprising there's no time interval shorter than 1 minute.

In one of the screenshots, the toggle for "Delete messages" was shown in dark theme, which confirms WhatsApp is done testing the much-awaited feature if it is testing new features in the dark setting. If this is any indication, we can expect both "Delete messages" and Dark Mode features to arrive together.

But that's not all. WhatsApp introduced a new feature to its iOS version, which addresses a major pain point of voice calls within the app. Users will finally get call waiting support for voice calls in iPhones, giving the option to accept a new incoming call while already on a different call. This is a pretty basic feature, but WhatsApp users haven't had it till now.

WhatsApp for iOS update also includes other changes, such as the redesigned chat screen, updated group privacy settings, and an option to send messages directly from the Braille keyboard while using Voiceover mode. All these features are available in WhatsApp for iOS version 2.19.120. If you haven't got them yet, head over to the App Store and update the app now.