WhatsApp’s upcoming Favorites filter makes another appearance
Summary
- WhatsApp is enhancing user experience with new features like the Favorites filter in the Chats tab, expected to land on Android soon.
- The Favorites filter will streamline message organization, while there’s also a dedicated page within Settings to manage favorite contacts.
- Meanwhile, a recent beta version of WhatsApp has uncovered an in-app dialer that allows users to call people without saving their numbers.
WhatsApp continues to improve its user experience with each update, while beta versions of the app give us a good idea about what to expect from future releases. The main Chats tab on WhatsApp currently has three filters — All, Unread, and Groups. However, over the past couple of months, we’ve come across reports about a new Favorites filter making its way to the Chats tab, starting with WhatsApp Web. It now looks like the developers are closer to bringing this over to the Android version of the app.
The experts over at WABetaInfo found this Favorites filter in the Chats tab with WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.24.9.33. However, I was unable to replicate it, even after manually sideloading this specific version of the app through APKMirror. This isn’t surprising, given that the feature is not yet ready for all beta testers, per WABetaInfo.
As you can see above, the new Favorites filter slots right between Unread and Groups. These filters appear when you scroll up in the Chats tab. Not too long ago, WhatsApp was testing a dedicated section within the Settings menu to add, rearrange, or remove people from Favorites. So this new Favorites filter in the Chats tab is the logical next step for the messaging app.
A dedicated dialer is also in the works
In addition to this Favorites filter in the Chats tab, we’ve also stumbled upon another potentially useful addition to WhatsApp, courtesy of a beta released earlier this week. The Meta-owned messaging app is looking to introduce an in-app dialer designed to dial WhatsApp numbers directly from the app.
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The current process is far from seamless, requiring users to either manually add a contact through the app or via the phone’s stock dialer to place a voice or video call. While the full details of this in-app dialer are currently under wraps, we expect this to be a game changer, as it would finally let people call their fellow WhatsApp users without saving their contact info first.
