Skip to main content

WhatsApp for iOS will let you listen to voice message while in a different chat

A few months ago, WhatsApp was working on a global voice message player for its app. Now, with the latest beta, it’s finally rolling out this feature to users.

According to WABetaInfo, this feature will let you listen to voice notes even when you switch to a different chat. So, if you start listening to a voice message of a friend and someone else sends you a text, you can switch to this other chat and reply to the other person at the same time.

What changed from October is that, at that time, WhatsApp was still developing this function while now beta testers can start to try it out as long as they are running version 22.1.72 of the app.

In these past few months, WhatsApp also tweaked a bit how the player will look like. As you can see in the screenshot below, the voice message will appear on the top of the app with a play/pause button, the name of your contact, and a close button to dismiss the message.

Site default logo image

WABetainfo notes that since this global voice message player is launching now, some users may not be able to try this function, as WhatsApp usually slowly rolls out new features. Unfortunately, it’s still not clear when this function will be available to all users on the stable version of the app, although it will probably not take that long.

In the previous beta version of WhatsApp, the app started to revamp its chat list page with a clearer design by removing the “Broadcast Lists” and “New Group” options.

Not only that, but in the future, the app is set to add your contacts’ profile photos in notifications whenever someone sends you a message. With that, every time you receive a new notification on WhatsApp, the name of the contact will appear as well as their profile picture.

Last but not least, WhatsApp also wants to differentiate whether someone replied or mentioned you in a group chat. For example, currently, if someone replies to you in a group, you get a notification saying that someone replied to you. Now, with the current beta version, WhatsApp also acknowledges when someone mentioned you in a group chat as well.

What do you think of these changes? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel