WhatsApp testing animations for message reactions on Android

It has been reported that the Meta-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp has been working on a message reactions feature that allows users to react to messages as we do on Instagram and Twitter. Now, WhatsApp has been seen working on a new animation for when a user responds to a message. Reactions in a message will be tested in the beta channel for Android, iOS, WhatsApp Web, and the WhatsApp desktop app before releasing it to end-users. The new animation was spotted in a WABetaInfo report showing the new animation being developed in WhatsApp for Android when you react to messages in the app.

New animations show that the selection emoji reaction appears at the bottom of the message and can draw the user's attention to the emoji reaction. However, according to the report, the feature is unavailable to any users or testers and is currently under development. This also comes shortly after WhatsApp was seen working on message reactions in the beta version of WhatsApp Desktop.

Last week, WABetaInfo displayed an emoji icon next to an individual message, revealing a panel with six emojis when clicked. The shared animation from the Android app and the desktop app shows six emojis: thumbs up, red heart, crying face, folded hands, shocked face, and tearful face. It is unknown if these will be the emojis that reactions will be limited to or if WhatsApp will allow users to react with other or more emojis.

Reactions to messages on WhatsApp is one of the most anticipated features that the instant messaging platform is working on. The feature has been in development for months now, and glimpses of what could be have been seen in various reports in the recent past. In addition, replying to messages with emojis and reactions is now available in other apps like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Signal, and Telegram.