We all have a complicated relationship with the group chat. Some days we're happy to spend all morning chatting with our girlies; others, we just want to get in and out fast. Yes, the group chat can be hilarious and helpful when planning social events, but it can also suck up our time like a sponge.
For this reason, it's amazing to hear that WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that will save us so much time – namely, instant reactions.
"We're excited to share that emoji reactions are now available on the latest version of the app," WhatsApp announced on its blog earlier this week. "Reactions are fun, fast, and they reduce overload in groups too."
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At the moment, WhatsApp has introduced a pretty limited range of six emoji reactions: thumbs up 👍, red heart ❤️, face with tears of joy 😂, face with open mouth 😮, crying face 😢, and folded hands 🙏. However, it's pledged to "continue improving them by adding an even broader range of expressions in the future".
Disappointingly, the reactions are currently only available in one skin tone, but WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart has previously said that "all skin tones" are to come. Let's hope they make this much-needed update sooner rather than later.
As part of its latest update, WhatsApp has also increased the size of files you can send on the app to 2GB. This is a huge increase from the previous file size limit of 100MB, and should prove useful if you love sharing long videos after a night out.
The app has also said it's "slowly rolling out the ability to add up to 512 people to a group". That number might sound like it's about 500 too many for a typical friends' group chat, but businesses and community groups will definitely benefit.