WhatsApp has started to implement a lot of new features over the month. Most of these features are found in most messaging platforms out there. It's good to see WhatsApp bring them, because we all most likely use WhatsApp. It's the only app that you can use to keep in touch with your family in most countries.
New Features That WhatsApp Added
The one feature I'm most happy they added is reactions. It should've been there, but it's here now. It's better to react to a message than to leave someone at read.
Another great feature is polls. It just helps to make decision-making easier in a group chat.
WhatsApp also recently started rolling out the ability to edit messages sent in the last 5 minutes. It's not available for all users yet, but to edit a message, you long press it. Then you must click on the three dots and click edit. Edited messages will have the "Edited" label, and will not show edit history.
WhatsApp also recently introduced the ability to record and send audio messages in Status.
And to mention the communities feature, it's weird, like I personally don't use it at all. I mean, I get the idea of it. You can create something similar to a Discord server, with one main group chat, and other groups like "discussion", "announcements", etc.
Features WhatsApp are Planning to Add
WhatsApp is also set to bring usernames, just like Telegram. And you might even be able to hide your phone number for people who are not in your contacts, just like Telegram.
Screensharing while video calling is another feature WhatsApp is planning to add. This is something that'd be really nice to have, because when I have video calls with my friends, we find ourselves switching over to a Google Meet just to share screens, so it would be great if WhatsApp adds it.
WhatsApp is also working on a new layout for Android which is very similar to that of iOS. I personally like this layout. It's out on the beta version.
I'm excited to see the ways in which Meta will improve WhatsApp.