Whatsapp from Facebook first introduced the ability to send voice notes in 2013. The feature hasn’t changed much in terms of design or functionality since it was first introduced. However, that is about to change, as the instant messaging app has announced some new voice note enhancements.
WhatsApp announced several new features aimed at improving the voice messaging experience in a blog post on Wednesday. These features have been in development for several months. They were first available in the WhatsApp beta version for mobile and desktop, and are now available to everyone on the stable version of the app.
The ability to play voice notes in the background is the most notable of the new features. Previously, if you left the chat while a voice message was playing, it would stop playing. You can now move to a different conversation, close the app, or do other things while a voice message is being played without interrupting the playback.
The ability to preview your voice messages before sending them is another useful feature. Before you hit the send button on a voice message, you’ll have the option to listen to it. You can also pause and resume the voice recording whenever you’re ready. Finally, you can listen to voice messages at 1.5x or 2x speed, as well as pause and resume listening to a message where you left off, so you don’t have to start over.
All of the new features and improvements to WhatsApp voice messages are listed below:
- Out of Chat Playback: Listen to a voice message while multitasking or reading and responding to other messages outside of the chat.
- Recording Pause/Resume: If you’re recording a voice message, you can now pause it and resume it when you’re ready, in case you’re interrupted or need to collect your thoughts.
- Waveform Visualization: Displays a visual representation of the sound on the voice message to aid in listening comprehension.
- Listen to your voice messages before sending them as a draft.
- If you pause while listening to a voice message, you can resume your conversation where you left off when you return to the chat.
- Fast Voice Message Playback on Forwarded Messages: Listen to voice messages at 1.5x or 2x speed on both regular and forwarded messages.
In the coming weeks, WhatsApp users will be able to use new voice messaging features.
