WhatsApp to bring more creative drawing tools for videos, images

With more than two billion active user bases across 100 plus countries, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger app in the world. However, it is a tough job to stay on top for long given how the competitors such as Signal, Telegram, and others have grown in just one year. The blame can be attributed to WhatsApp’s ill-advised revision of user privacy policy that asked customers to mandatorily share the communications and transaction details between the latter and business owners exchanged on its messenger app. Or else the aggrieved customers who don’t like to share their private conversation with a merchant, were asked to uninstall WhatsApp on their phone by May 15, 2021.

However, after dilly-dallying for several weeks, WhatsApp finally decided to postpone the deadline indefinitely. Since then, the company, in a bid to arrest the attrition of subscribers, has been releasing new value-added features including more options to auto-delete photos and files on the receiver’s phone after the expiry of pre-set time. Also, introduced much-needed feature that allows people to transfer WhatsApp data from iPhone to Android mobiles (the reverse option is yet to be launched) and many more.

Now, the company is reportedly planning to bring more drawing tools for videos and photos within the app, so that users need have to install additional apps just to enhance photo/video quality, WABetaInfo reported citing the latest WhatsApp beta (v2.22.3.5 for Android) release to the testing developer community.

As you can see the screenshot below, shows three pens with different thickness options. Also, the blog revealed that WhatsApp beta for iOS has an additional tool that can blur the part of the multimedia content.

WhatsApp Beta app with drawing tools option. Credit: WABeta Info

There is a chance of WhatsApp bringing more editing tools to both Android and iOS in the coming days and would seek feedback from testers. Based on the response and provided the bugs are weeded out, they will be released to the public version of WhatsApp. Given how much time-consuming the testing of apps is, it may take several weeks before they see the light of the day.

In a related development, WhatsApp is planning to bring privacy indicators to the messenger app. It will be placed on status, the background of the text chat box, and even calls. It would say the conversation between the two private individuals, is fully end-to-end encrypted and it cannot be tapped by private or by any government agency, and not even WhatsApp will have any access to users' private data.

Must read | WhatsApp to show privacy indicator during calls and messaging