If you send a lot of audio clips to friends and family, the messaging platform is working on a helpful tool to save you a few taps. Currently in beta testing, a new home screen widget will let you record and send voice notes without opening WhatsApp. This small change is designed to make sharing quick audio updates much faster for everyone.
Record and share audio clips right from your phone screen
The new tool is currently rolling out in the latest beta version of the app. It takes the form of a 3×1 widget that you can manually place anywhere on your display, and you can resize it to fit your layout. Once placed, tapping the widget brings up a dedicated recording screen.
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To help people find it, the app is also showing an in-chat notice. When you record a voice note the usual way inside a conversation, a small prompt pops up to suggest adding the new shortcut directly to your menu.
The widget helps you send identical voice notes to multiple people
The recording interface comes with all the standard controls you already know. You can pause, resume, or discard a recording before you finalize it. The biggest benefit is what happens after you finish talking. Instead of sending the clip to one person and forwarding it manually, a contact list appears so you can send the message to several people at once.
Right now, the feature is limited to users running the Android beta build. However, as is common with these testing cycles, we can expect the feature to arrive on the iPhone and iOS platforms after the initial rollout is complete.
For now, only a small group of early testers have access to the tool. The company has not shared a specific date for a wider public launch. Based on how they usually test new additions, a broader release should happen over the coming weeks.
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