WhatsApp working on several new features to enhance user experience

Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on several new features to enhance the user experience on the chatting platform.

The feature, which the company presently working on includes -- locked chats on linked devices, status updates of up to 1 minute, explore new channels, autoplay animated images, and hidden community group chats, according to WABetaInfo.

Currently available to some beta testers, the "locked chats on linked devices" feature will let users protect their conversations from their linked devices. However, users will be required to create a secret code to open the locked chats folder from their linked devices.

Another feature -- "status updates of up to 1 minute" will allow users to share videos of up to 1 minute in length via status updates. Earlier, the limit to share videos on status updates was 30 seconds. The feature is presently available to some beta testers and will roll out to more people over the coming weeks, the report said.

Further, WhatsApp introduced a new shortcut to "explore new channels", with an aim to make it promptly visible and accessible. According to the report, making the ability to explore channels more visible offers the advantage of improving user engagement with content discovery.

The explore new channels feature is available to some beta testers.

In addition, the messaging platform is working on a feature to manage the "autoplay of animated images" right within the app settings. Specifically, this feature will disable all animations for emojis, stickers, and avatars, providing them with enhanced control over their chat experience.

Presently, this feature is under development and it will be available in a future update of the app, the report mentioned.

Lastly, WhatsApp is developing a feature that will allow users to mark "community group chats as hidden". This feature will be available in the future update of the app.