It’s been a busy few months bringing new features and updates to WhatsApp. Here’s the latest roundup of some of the new tools, settings, and features you may have missed across the Chats, Calls, and Updates tabs.

Chats

Your place for private and encrypted chats with family and friends

Animated emojis: We’ve made emojis even more fun. Now when you share one of in chat, they’ll move.

Animated sticker maker: Take your stickers to the next level by turning your favourite videos into moving stickers.

Avatar social stickers: Available in one to one chats, social stickers are only shareable with those who have an avatar, and with those you have saved as a contact by default.

Easier group creation: Start a new group without needing to add anyone right away. Kick it off with just the group name and add others directly or invite them with a link.

Caption, react and reply to multiple media: Now when you send multiple photos and videos all at once, you can add a shared caption for them all, and recipients can react or reply to the entire collection as well as individual items.

Calls

A dedicated tab to make new calls, share call links, and manage your call history, all in one place

New filters and effects: We’ve added 6 new filters and 6 fun effects for you to use on video calls or when taking a photo.

Updates

This tab is home to Status and Channels, and is separate from your personal chats

Photo polls on Channels: Polls on Channels just got even more interactive and fun. Now channel admins can add photos to each poll option.

Starring Channel updates: You can now star your favorite updates to come back to whenever you want.

Mention groups on Status: Last year we made it possible to mention friends and family in your status. Now, you can also mention your groups. All members of the group will be notified in the group chat, and will be able to reshare the status to their own.

Stay tuned for more new features and updates soon!

As one of our biggest requests, we’re excited to announce that WhatsApp is now available on iPad.

Bringing all your favorite features to a larger screen, WhatsApp for iPad makes keeping in touch with friends and family even easier. Make video and audio calls with up to 32 people, share your screen, and use both front and back cameras.

We’ve made WhatsApp for iPad ideal for multitasking so you can get more done. Take advantage of iPadOS multitasking features such as Stage Manager*, Split View, and Slide Over to view multiple apps at once, so you can send messages while browsing the web, or research options for a group trip while on a call together. WhatsApp also works with your Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

WhatsApp for iPad uses our industry leading multi-device technology to keep everything in sync across your iPhone, Mac and other devices while protecting your personal messages, calls and media with end-to-end encryption, no matter what platform or device you’re messaging. Our extra layers of privacy, such as chat lock, mean that you can have private conversations in confidence even if you share your iPad with others.

This is only the start for WhatsApp on iPad, and we look forward to your feedback. Available to download from the App Store today.

_{*Stage Manager is available on iPad Pro with M4, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) and iPad Air (5th generation), iPad Air 11-inch (M2 and later), iPad Air 13-inch (M2 and later).}

WhatsApp Status is your private space to keep the people who matter most to you up to date on what’s happening day to day. Whether it's your wedding day and you’re using Status to give those who couldn’t make a front row seat or you just want to share what made you smile most today, bring even more of your personality to each Status.

• Layout: Turn up to six of your pictures into a collage, using our editing tools to lay them out exactly how you want.
• More with Music: Make a Status post focused entirely on a particular song, or use a music sticker to share the song that best sets the vibe.
• Photo Stickers: Turn a photo into a sticker and add it to your status. You’ll be able to edit them so they are the right size and shape.
• Add Yours: Choose a picture and use the Add Yours sticker to invite friends in on the conversation. When they respond to your prompt they can share it to their status and hear what their community has to say as well.

These features are going to start rolling out soon and will be available to all our users in the coming months.

Whether you’re sharing the everyday moments that make up your life or a big occasion, we hope these new features give you even more ways to bring those closest to you along and up to date on what’s happening. Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Whether it’s a nail-biting football game, a dramatic season finale or sharing some big news, sometimes you need to talk it out with those available at that moment. That’s why we’re bringing voice chat to groups of all sizes so you can connect live over audio whenever, without having to leave your group chat or switch to a call, that people in your group can hop into whenever they want.

Previously available only for large groups, now anyone in your group can start a voice chat by going to the bottom of your chat, swiping up and holding for a few seconds. Starting a voice chat doesn’t notify or ring anyone, so that people can join and leave the hangout whenever. The voice chat stays pinned to the bottom of your chat so you can easily access call controls, while new members can join when they want and see who else has already.

As always, WhatsApp protects your voice chats alongside your personal calls and messages with end-to-end encryption by default.

The foundation of privacy on WhatsApp is that your personal messages and calls are protected by end-to-end encryption so that only the sender and recipient can see, listen to or share them. From there, we’ve built multiple layers of privacy, like disappearing messages and chat lock, that take privacy one step further.

Today we’re introducing our latest layer for privacy called "Advanced Chat Privacy." This new setting available in both chats and groups helps prevent others from taking content outside of WhatsApp for when you may want extra privacy.

When the setting is on, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features. That way everyone in the chat has greater confidence that no one can take what is being said outside the chat.

WhatsApp groups are increasingly an extension of our real world networks, some of which are far closer than others. We think this feature is best used when talking with groups where you may not know everyone closely but are nevertheless sensitive in nature, like talking about health challenges in a support group or organizing your community about something important to you.

You can turn this on by tapping the chat name, then tapping on Advanced Chat Privacy. This is the first version of this feature and we’re planning to add more to it so that it will eventually include even more protections.

This new setting is rolling out to everyone on the latest version of WhatsApp.

With new features and updates being added all the time, it can be easy to miss out on useful and exciting ways you can use WhatsApp. To keep you in the loop, we’ll be sharing regular roundups of the latest updates, tools, and settings. Today’s roundup includes features that have rolled out recently to make your conversations and calls more enjoyable, and improve your Channels experience.

Chats

Your place for private and encrypted chats with family and friends

‘Online’ indicator in group chats: To help you know if people are around to chat, you can now see how many people are ‘Online’ in real-time, right under the group name.

Highlight notifications in groups: Need an easy way to prioritize your group chat notifications? Use the new ‘Notify for’ setting and select ‘Highlights’ to limit notifications for @mentions, replies, and messages from saved contacts or ‘All’ to receive all notifications.

Events updates: In addition to creating events in groups, you can now create an event in a 1:1 conversation. We’ve also added the ability to RSVP as ‘maybe,’ invite a plus one, add end date and time for longer events, and pin the event in a chat.

Tappable reactions: Sometimes you just want to +1 to what someone else said. Now you can quickly view everyone else’s reactions and tap the one you want to send.

Document scanning on iPhone: Scan and send documents directly from WhatsApp on iPhone. Simply select ‘Scan document’ from the attachment tray and follow the steps to scan, crop, and save the document.

Default App for iPhone: With the latest iOS update, you can now also set WhatsApp as your default messaging and calling app on your iPhone. To make the switch, simply go to Settings > Default Apps and select WhatsApp.

Calls

A dedicated tab to make new calls, share call links, and manage your call history, all in one place

Pinch to zoom in video calls: iPhone users can now pinch to zoom in on a video while on a video call to get a closer look at your own or peer video.

Add to call from a chat: Add someone to an ongoing 1:1 call directly from a chat thread by tapping the call icon on the top and selecting ‘Add to call’.

Enjoy smoother video calls: We've upgraded our technology to make your video calls more reliable and higher quality. Our optimized routing system finds the best connection path, reducing dropped calls and video freezing. And our improved bandwidth detection quickly upgrades your video to HD quality for a more enjoyable experience.

Updates

This tab is home to Status and Channels, and is separate from your personal chats

Video notes for Channels: Similar to chats, Channel admins can now instantly record and share short videos (60 seconds or less) with followers.

Voice message transcripts on Channels: You can now get a written summary of voice message updates from channels when you’re on the go and can’t listen to them.

QR codes: As a channel admin, you can now share a unique QR code that links directly to your channel, making it easy to share with others and grow their audience.

Stay tuned for more new features and updates soon!

WhatsApp Status has always been a way to share life’s moments with friends and family—but what’s a moment without the perfect soundtrack? Now, you can do exactly that by adding music to your Status updates.

When creating a Status, you’ll now see a music note icon at the top of your screen. Tap it, and you’ll unlock a library of songs to pick from — whether it’s today’s top hits, something new, or the earworm that’s stuck in your head. Choose the exact part of the song that fits your moment – up to 15 seconds for a photo and up to 60 seconds for a video.

Our library has millions of songs to choose from. Your Status is end-to-end encrypted so WhatsApp can't see what you share, and we don’t know which songs you add to your Status.

We’re rolling this out globally and expanding over the next few weeks. Get ready to drop the beat, one update at a time.

You asked for it. Here it is! We’re introducing chat themes, so you can make your chats uniquely yours with colorful chat bubbles and new wallpapers.

Chat themes: Turn your chat bubbles and background your favorite colors, with plenty of options to choose from. Pick from one of our pre-set chat themes which change both your background and bubbles, or mix and match colors to best fit your style.

New wallpapers: Add some fun to your chats by choosing from 30 new wallpaper options, or you can still upload a background from your camera roll to make them completely unique to you.

You can apply the same theme to all your chats, or make each one extra special with different themes. Either way, your chat themes are only visible to you. You can also change the theme of your channels.

To change the theme of all your chats and channels, go to Settings > Chats > Default chat theme. To customize each chat individually, click the chat name at the top of the chat screen (on iOS), or click the 3-dot menu (on Android) > Chat theme.

These features are now starting to roll out, and will be available globally over the coming weeks.

We’re always working on making WhatsApp easier to use and more fun, so we’re excited to kick off the new year with a variety of new features and design improvements.

• Camera effects: You loved the effects we launched on video calls last year. Now, when you take and send a video or photo in your chats, you can choose from the same 30 backgrounds, filters and effects to transform your shots.
• Selfie stickers: For fans of custom stickers, now you can turn your selfie straight into a sticker. Just tap the sticker on create sticker and you’ll see the camera option to take a selfie and create your sticker. Available on Android and coming to iOS soon.
• Share a sticker pack: Spotted a sticker pack you know your friend will love? Now you can easily share them directly in your chats.
• Quicker reactions: Now you can double tap a message to react and quickly scroll through your most-used reactions.
  

We’re looking forward to introducing more exciting features this year, while offering private, secure messaging wherever you are in the world.