The messaging application WhatsApp is finally going to allow users to change a message after it has been sent.
This means that WhatsApp will join the ranks of other platforms like ‘iMessage’ and ‘Slack’ and the WhatsApp user will get the facility to solve problems in terms of messages.
More like other apps, users will be able to delete messages completely thanks to the recent feature addition.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of WhatsApp’s owner Metta, said the feature is now being rolled out to users around the world and will be available to everyone in the ‘coming weeks’.
When this feature is available, users will be able to long press on a message and change it by clicking the ‘Edit’ button.
This facility will be available for 15 minutes after the message is sent.
The duration of using this facility is much shorter than the option to delete a message which now allows a message to be deleted within two-and-a-half days after the extension last year.
As with deleted messages, it will no longer be possible to secretly delete messages, avoid awkward situations or make chat transcripts misleading.
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Any message that has been changed will have a small ‘Edited’ message next to it to let people know the change was made to the message.
WhatsApp said the feature can be used ‘from correcting simple misspellings to adding additional context to a message.’
The new change is the latest in a series of changes to WhatsApp aimed at making the app easier to use and less annoying.
Other changes include a new ‘Secret Chats’ feature, fixing bugs in the way polls and message forwarding work, and the ability to make messages disappear automatically.
The changes were introduced shortly after the app was criticized for apparently accessing people’s microphones when the app was not even in use.
WhatsApp said it was a software bug in Google’s Android operating system.
WhatsApp insists that Google does not listen to users.