WhatsApp Starts Rolling Out Video Messages
- Laurent Giret
- Jul 27, 2023
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WhatsApp has started rolling out instant video messages on its mobile apps. The feature will let users record and share up to 60 seconds video messages and share them directly in a chat conversation.
“Video messages are a real-time way to respond to chats with whatever you want to say and show in 60 seconds. We think these will be a fun way to share moments with all the emotion that comes from video, whether it’s wishing someone a happy birthday, laughing at a joke, or bringing good news,” the WhatsApp team said today.
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Video messages are now a pretty common feature on messaging apps: Facebook Messenger and Instagram already support them, and even Microsoft Teams added video messages last year. However, despite having over 2 billion users, WhatsApp has never been the most technologically-advanced messaging app on the market. Users actually had to wait until this year to be able to use the same WhatsApp account across multiple phones.
To send a video message, WhatsApp users will need to tap the voice message button to switch to video mode and then hold it to record a video. Users can also hold that button and slide upward to engage the lock mode and record video messages hands-free.
Just like voice messages, all video messages sent on WhatsApp are encrypted by default. This will be a gradual rollout and all WhatsApp users should have access to voice messages in the coming weeks, the WhatsApp team said today.