Instagram, WhatsApp, Google and YouTube – What’s changed in the past week
This article is a quick recap on changes and app updates of tech products like Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Google messages from the past 2 weeks (15/08/2022). And includes details on the following changes.
Table of Contents
Meta Products Changes
Instagram testing quick DM reactions for story replies.
Instagram is testing new quick emoji replies with emoji reactions.
So, now you’ll get an emoji suggestion strip above the reply box of Instagram with 7 emojis.
Every Instagram video is a now reels.
As we previously mentioned in our articles now Instagram is switched to a single video format. And due to this change, reels are now available to every country previously unavailable, like Sri Lanka.
Even though reels are not widely available Instagram still seems to be restricting the major features like music and live transcriptions.
WhatsApp Changes
WhatsApp testing new view past group participants feature.
As we previously mentioned in our article below WhatsApp is testing a new feature which will let users silently leave groups and view past participants who left the group within 60 days.
This feature is also announced for WhatsApp by Mark Zuckerberg along with 2 other privacy features as follows.
- Exit group chats without notifying everyone.
- Control who can see when you’re online.
- Prevent screenshots on view once messages.
WhatsApp testing emoji equality.
WhatsApp is testing larger heart animation support for all colours of hearts.
Currently, this is a test feature and will be available for everyone soon.
WhatsApp is testing a new video call UI.
WhatsApp is testing a new video call UI with a hidden notch and rounded corners.
This is currently rolling out for beta teeters and might be available to everyone soon.
Google Products
YouTube now supports video drag and drop.
As we previously mentioned in our article Google is now giving much-needed care for big screen devices like tablets. As a part of these changes now YouTube also supports drag and drop in split screen view as shown below.
All you have to do is open your desired app along with YouTube in a split group and long press and drop the video on the application.
Google Docs will now give a heads up about the compatibility of word features.
Google Docs will now give you the warning to indicate potential compatibility issues or if any Office features are unavailable when you edit word files (.docx)
And you can also use version history to undo your changes as well.
Chrome replaced reverse image search with Google lens
Google defaulted Google lens as search by image instead of the old reverse image search.
You can still access the reverse image search by pressing the “find image source” chip.
Google messages got a new “Swipe actions” menu to control swipe actions.
Google message got a new Swipe actions menu to control your swipe actions.
Currently, there are only two actions for both right and left swipes; You can either choose delete or archive chats.
And that’s all for this week in tech digest and you can also catch up on instant updates on my Twitter page @saadhjawwadh.
