“This new feature will be reportedly available in an upcoming major update for WhatsApp on iOS”
Facebook owned WhatsApp is working on a new feature for its iOS app, which will allow users to preview an audio message right from the Notifications. According to a tweet by WABetaInfo, the feature has been uncovered in the latest beta version of WhatsApp for iOS. Currently, the app will allow you to preview photos and videos via notifications. Now, it looks like WhatsApp is also adding audio messages to that list. The feature is expected to arrive in a future update.
When receiving an audio message on WhatsApp, a push notification will appear on the lock screen. After the audio preview feature makes its way to a public version of WhatsApp, the push notification will show a play/ pause button. Users can easily listen to the audio message without having to open the app or unlock the iPhone. A seekbar is also presented to the user allowing to slide forward or backward. Overall, this will be a pretty useful feature when it becomes available.
According to WABetaInfo, the audio message preview feature should be available as a part of a major update to WhatsApp. This feature will reportedly be available first on iOS and should eventually make it to Android. It is still in beta and development is going on. Users should also be able to preview the audio message from the notification panel. A recent update to WhatsApp for iOS included the ability to preview stickers in the notifications. The update allowed users to long press on a sticker to view the full sticker, right from the notification panel.
WhatsApp in general will be getting several new features in future updates, including a dark mode. A recent WhatsApp beta for Android featured a Dark mode, but according to WABetaInfo, the feature will be available on iOS first. It should be released alongside the iOS 13 update later this year. Android users may have to wait longer to get this feature and few others.
