WhatsApp Begins Rolling Out Emoji Reactions, 2GB File Transfers, Plus ‘Communities’ for Schools and Clubs
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In addition to some nice enhancements for voice messages that we covered earlier this week, WhatsApp is now beginning the rollout of its promised Communities feature, introducing emoji reactions, allowing larger files to be shared, and more.
Meta, which owns WhatsApp, teased some of these enhancements on its blog last month when it announced Communities on WhatsApp. The goal, it said, was to allow organizations like schools and clubs to use the social messaging service more effectively.
For example, Communities would allow a school principal to communicate with all parents while also setting up sub-groups about specific classes or activities under the same umbrella.
To make the new features even more useful, WhatsApp also said it would be bringing several other enhancements to the platform, both inside the new Communities and for normal group chats as well.
Perhaps the most significant of these is a feature that users of other chat platforms have already enjoyed for a while: emoji reactions. Even Meta’s own Facebook Messenger has long supported reactions, and of course, Apple’s iMessage handles this in its own way with Tapbacks.
However, this conspicuous omission for WhatsApp fans has now been resolved. With the latest version of the app, you’ll be able to react with the standard set: Thumbs Up
