Meta’s super-popular chat app WhatsApp is reportedly working on adding new features to its messaging, including a new “Edit” feature that is in the pipeline for an upcoming update in the near future.
According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp was thinking about launching an Edit feature five years ago but at that time the feature was scrapped. Now it seems the developers are bringing it back at last.
The site also managed to procure screenshots of the new feature in action. It looks like it will be included alongside the staple “Info” and “Copy” features now common on the app.
If this feature manages to make it out of the beta phase and launches commercially, WhatsApp users – numbering in more than 2-billion worldwide – can finally edit their messages to other users, such as in Skype, Discord and other online chat apps.
The Edit feature probably won’t include an Edit history but usually, these apps will show if a message has been edited in some way – usually with an “Edited” stamp. The time window that will allow users to edit their messages is also as of yet unknown, or if there will be a time window at all.
Reports indicate that WhatsApp is set to launch the feature across platforms, including Android, iOS and Desktop.
There is yet any news on when the feature will be rolled out to more than just WhatsApp Beta testers.
Twitter’s proposed Edit Button
Fellow hyper-popular social media platform Twitter has long faced calls from users to implement a message editing feature.
In April, the company announced that it had begun working on an Edit Tweet feature, coinciding with Elon Musk’s (the richest man on Earth) bid to buy the platform.
Twitter had long put off including the Edit feature, citing it as a possible means of manipulating users and narratives on the platform, and while there is still no concrete information on when the edit feature will finally launch on Twitter, the company is reportedly still working on it.
The company shared a quick gif of what the edit feature could look like at launch:
