WhatsApp Starts Testing Voice Transcription, Chat Lock, and Facebook Status Sharing Features

Three new features are purportedly being rolled out by WhatsApp to beta users.

On iOS, the first feature enables users to lock particular chats.

Additionally, WhatsApp for Android is testing the capability to directly share your Status with your Facebook friends. Recent beta versions of the iOS app allow beta testers to test a feature that transcribes voice notes sent via WhatsApp. According to a report, the only functionality that requires iOS 16 to operate is voice transcription.

Version 23.9.0.71 of WhatsApp beta for iOS adds support for a feature that lets beta testers lock chats for more privacy, claims WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo.

Once enabled, these chats can only be accessed following successful Face ID or Touch ID authentication on older iPhone models. Users can seek for a new area named Locked Chats by navigating to the chat information section. Sender names and message previews are hidden after a chat is locked, and pictures and videos are not automatically stored to the phone’s Photos library.

In version 2.23.9.22 of the WhatsApp beta for Android, the messaging service, which is owned by Meta, is also enhancing its Facebook integration by enabling users to quickly share their WhatsApp Status with their Facebook friends. Users used to be asked to share their Status on Facebook, but doing so required exiting the app.

This integration will allow users to opt-in to share their Status, which means it will be disabled by default, according to WABetaInfo.

In addition, WhatsApp recently started releasing the iOS beta version 23.9.0.70 of WhatsApp with a voice transcription capability. According to the feature tracker, this feature enables users to listen to a voice note without using earbuds or playing it through the phone’s speaker. This can be useful in circumstances where reading a voice note may be more convenient than listening to it.

According to WABetaInfo, the speech transcription function for iOS is handled locally rather than by WhatsApp’s servers. This indicates that, like messages and other attachments, voice notes will continue to be safeguarded by end-to-end encryption. The app will use language packs that can be downloaded in order to enable transcription in different languages. The text from voice note transcriptions is also indexed and can be searched, as per the report.