For some time now, the most famous instant messaging company in Meta, WhatsApp, has implemented interesting new features in its application. If not long ago we talked about the communities that are beginning to unfold in many territories, now WhatsApp announces two new features: Avatars (in the purest Meta style, the ones we already have on Facebook and Instagram) and the possibility of using other applications while we use the video call (something that many of us were waiting for and that seems basic after being a user of FaceTime and other apps).
Regarding the first of the news, WhatsApp has made the arrival of avatars to its application official. These avatars, like the Memoji, are customizable people with expressiveness to be able to use them as an “emoji” and show a reaction (we will initially have 36 different possibilities from crying or laughing, to being pensive or winking) to a message. or to be able to use it as a profile photo in the application itself. What an avatar of a lifetime. The appearance of these avatars is similar to the one that Meta previously introduced on Instagram or Facebook, so it will look quite familiar to us.
The customization possibilities do not vary much from the Memojis except that WhatsApp avatars have a whole body to customize with different outfits (remember that the Memoji only leave us accessories for the head or changes in the torso). This is in line with Meta’s vision for the future of including this type of avatar in the Metaverse, so We would not be surprised if one of the ways in which Zuckerberg intends to monetize WhatsApp is by selling “Skins” in the purest Fortnite style for their avatars in the medium term.
To find out if you already have this functionality available on your devices, just You will have to go to the settings within WhatsApp and under your profile photo a menu should appear to modify the avatar. There you can customize yours and start using it to react to stories, messages or to have a new and Christmas (due to the dates in which we are, it will have to be customized in this way) profile photo.
On the other hand, we have the novelty of being able to use other applications while making video calls. As they have been able to report from WAbetainfo, The new beta for iOS 22.24.0.79 already includes the possibility of video calling a contact and being able to have the PiP screen while we browse any other application on our device. This is undoubtedly a total change in the usability of the application, since it will make it much more versatile and it will not block the use of our device if we want to continue with the call.
The WhatsApp guys seem to be getting their act together (again) and We hope to see these and many more news in the short-medium term. Surely they continue to improve an app that, compared to the competition, still has a long way to go (although there is no one who can beat them in number of users).