Huge WhatsApp update TODAY adds message reactions and two amazing features

WHATSAPP has released a huge update adding brand new features – including message reactions.

The big change is rolling out today and will also massively increase party size.

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Many of the changes have been teased over the past few weeks and months.

But you can now access it from the regular WhatsApp app for the first time.

The biggest change is the addition of Facebook-style message reactions.

This allows you to react quickly to a message without having to send an entire text.

Mark Zuckerberg – who runs WhatsApp owner Meta – shared the news with a selection of reaction emojis.

These include thumbs up, love heart, crying laughter, shocked face, sad tear and praying (or high five).

“Reactions are fun, fast, and also reduce congestion in groups,” WhatsApp said.

“We will continue to improve them by adding an even broader range of expressions in the future.”

WhatsApp previously said it plans to add multiple skin tones and all emoji in the future.

That’s not the only change: Group chats are also getting bigger.

WhatsApp group size used to be a maximum of 100 people before changing to 256 in 2016.

Now the new limit is 512 participants in a single group chat.

It comes before WhatsApp adds its long-awaited Community feature – which lets you create “parent groups” that hold lots of group chats.

The final change in this major update is the ability to send much larger files via WhatsApp.

You used to be limited to 100MB of files, but the limit has now been raised to 2GB – a twentyfold increase.

“We think [it] will be helpful for collaboration between small businesses and school groups,” WhatsApp said.

“We recommend using Wi-Fi for larger files, and we’ll display a counter while uploading or downloading to let you know how long your transfer will take.”

These new features are rolling out today, so be sure to check your app (and app stores) regularly for updates.

If you want to try upcoming features before everyone else, consider joining the WhatsApp beta to test changes using our guide below.

How to get WhatsApp beta

To download WhatsApp Beta for your smartphone, you need to go to Google Play on your Android and search for WhatsApp.

Scroll down the page until you see “Become a Beta Tester”.

Tap the “I’m in” button, then tap “Join” to confirm.

Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.

Participating in the WhatsApp beta on iPhone is more difficult and has a limited capacity.

Follow Apple’s instructions here.

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