September edition of What’s New on Your Favorite Applications
The new features that your favorite social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter, received in the month of September are all summarized in this post.
Additionally, it included a summary of the newly added functionality in your favorite Google applications, including Chrome, Google Docs, YouTube, and Google Contacts as follows.
Table of Contents
WhatsApp expanded the large emoji animation
As we already announced WhatsApp started to expand larger emoji animations to various heart emojis now the supported list of emojis has been expanded further.
And this new feature is widely rolling out now to users around the globe.
WhatsApp testing the ability to control online status.
After a lot of teasing WhatsApp finally started to test the ability to hide/control online status.
WhatsApp testing “Call Links” feature
Initially, Zuckerberg announced a new feature on WhatsApp called “Call Links” which will let you easily start or join a call using just a link and now it has been tested among specific users as well.
This feature will roll out to everyone starting this week and available for both audio and video calls according to Will Cathcart.
Currently, this is being tested around some selective beta testers and hopefully, this will roll out to everyone soon.
Instagram reels going to get a TikTok-like watermark
Instagram seemingly desperately popularised its vertical video format reels due to the massive growth of TikTok. Part of this effort is now Instagram testing a new watermark while you save your own reels on the device.
And Instagram also tests a new “Created with Reels” in stories as well when you post a video created with reels.
Further, I personally believe this is an initial step that Instagram going to allow users to download reels with a watermark but, time should reveal this. Currently, this feature is testing phase and hope it will be rolled out soon to everyone.
Instagram rolling out a new media button for DM
Instagram rolling out a new media button for direct messages where users can attach media from their device, liked posts and saved posts and Instagram also suggest posts to attach.
Currently, this is widely rolling out people around the globe.
Instagram rolling out supervision (parental control) to all
Instagram widely rolled out the Supervision feature for parents to supervise their teens under 13-17. This feature
When supervision is set up Parents can control their child’s interactions with the app. And now according to Adam Mosseri, this feature is available to everyone.
To know more about this feature check out this guide from Instagram.
Instagram got its own version of broadcast messages
Instagram seemingly testing a new chat group “Public” which works like a WhatsApp broadcast.
This feature seems to be a kick start for more broadcast features as Alessandro Paluzzi discovered.
Instagram and Facebook seem to be getting more Integrated
Seems like recent features going to make Facebook and Instagram closer than ever.
As a part of this now Instagram lets you add your Facebook profile link to your bio.
Previously it only allowed adding Links to Facebook communities and now Meta also announced a new easy-to-switch-between accounts feature through their Twitter as well.
These features going to make it much easier to switch between Instagram and Facebook.
Instagram also rolling out a bit more polished version of Avatars with new Avatar stickers.
These new Avatars are being tested with beta users and will be rolled out to everyone soon.
Instagram trolling out 60 seconds stories feature all around the globe.
Instagram will soon let you hide like counts from reels as well as Adam Mosseri stated in a Tweet.
Zuckerberg announced a community chat for Facebook
Community chat is a new way where, people can connect with their communities in real time around the topics they care about on both Facebook and Messenger via text, audio and video.
Basically, it’s a messenger for Facebook groups, where people can mingle with one another. To learn more follow this link
Spotify testing new sharing screen
Snapchat
Snapchat the popular photo-sharing announced a similar dual camera feature to Be real which is another growing social media platform.
According to Snapchat, this feature is now available all around the globe.
Google Products
Google app got a new “Search Console Insights” menu for mobile.
Google now have a new “Search console insights” menu when you open the Google app with the same Gmail used for the search console.
This new menu will show summarized search console insights for your websites.
Google started to show website names in search results
Now Google shows the website name along with the URL in search results.
I believed this will also ease up the user’s search if they are heading up to a specific website and this started to show up to everyone around the globe.
Google contacts app showing filter chips
Google contacts apps show some new contact filters to easily filter contacts.
This seems to be rolling out widely around the globe.
Chrome is getting a new address bar shortcut for search history, bookmarks and tabs
Google Chrome getting a new address bar shortcut which let users search for history, bookmarks and tabs quickly.
You can trigger it by typing “@” in the address bar and selecting the appropriate filter and searching within that filter.
Currently, this is hidden under the flag #omnibox-site-search-starter-pack and you can enable it from chrome://flags/ to get it for you or wait till Google’s official rollout.
Google replaced full-screen search results with a new card screen.
Google is testing a new UI redesign for the Google app browser. This new UI will open search results and discover feeds into a new card screen instead of the old full scree UI.
Currently, this feature seems to be on test around the Google Public Beta testers.
YouTube testing reactions.
YouTube testing reactions feature will allow you to react to specific parts of a video. Currently, it supports 5 reactions as shown below.
This feature is available only on specific channels for now as Mrwhosetheboss and works only on mobile. Hope YouTube will roll out this to everyone and other channels soon.
YouTube also testing a new subscription button for shorts when you pause a video.
Seems like YouTube also focuses more on vertical video format shorts.
Google Docs now lets you add emojis with text
Google Docs made it much easier to add emojis by adding new text shortcuts support; As every other Google platform (Like Google chat).
You can add emojis with two different methods as follows,
- Type “@” followed by a descriptor, such as “@smile,” to search for a specific emoji amongst other menu items.
- Type “@:” or “:” to see a dropdown list of emojis and the option to navigate to the entire catalogue of emojis.
According to Google, this feature is now available all around the globe.
Google Hangout is dead for good
“As a final step in the migration of Google Hangout, beginning November 1, 2022, Google Hangouts on the web will redirect to Google Chat on the web, and Hangouts will no longer be accessible.” – Google
GBoard testing faster voice typing on none pixel devices.
GBoard (AKA Google Keyboard) testing a new faster voice typing toggle which allows you to use more accurate and faster voice typing on your device.
It can be also used offline and currently Google is testing this for beta testers hopefully it will be launched to everyone soon.
Gmail removed bottom bar text labels.
Gmail got a slide new redesign for bottom bars with new icon-only labels. Previously, Gmail had an icon and text labels.
This new redesign rolling out to all everyone.
Google Meet got a new mode of attendance.
Now you can say Yes, I am joining virtually an event thanks to the new button.
This button is rolling out widely around Gmail, Google Calendar and other places related to events.
Android nearby share got self sharing
Android alternative for Apple’s Airdrop Nearby share got a new self-sharing feature (Your devices) that will allow you to share between devices using the same email.
This is rolling out widely among Android users around the globe.
Twitter now let you share Tweet directly to Snapchat and Instagram Stories on Android
Finally, now Android users can share Tweets directly to Snapchat and Instagram Stories.
Along with this Twitter also announced LinkedIn sharing as well. Further, Twitter also reportedly testing a WhatsApp sharing button in India as well.
Most of these sharing-related features are already rolled out around the globe other than the WhatsApp share icon.
Twitter testing new compact side menu redesign
Twitter seemingly testing a new collapsible side menu with three major settings groups.
Currently, This redesign is in the testing phase and hope it will be widely available soon.
Twitter officially started testing the edit button
After teasing this as an April fool joke finally Twitter started to test the edit button.
Currently, this feature is only available for Twitter Blue subscribers (Paid subscription).
That’s it for this month. If you want to follow me on Twitter at @saadhjawwadh and keep up with us on Google News, you can do so here.
