Oliver Haslam·

WhatsApp Announces QR Codes For Contacts, Animated Stickers, More

WhatsApp today announced some new features for the instant messaging service and while some of them were already common knowledge, it’s great to see them finally made official. Top of the list is the ability to add a contact by scanning a QR code.

That’s a feature similar to others that are already available for things like Instagram, another Facebook-owned company. The theory is that it’s simpler and quicker to scan a QR code than it is to enter a person’s name and contact details.

QR codes: We are making it easier than ever to add a new contact. Soon when you meet someone new, you will be able to scan their QR code to add them to your contacts. No more tapping in their digits one at a time.

There’s more here, too. New animated stickers have been added to bring “even more fun” to chats taking place inside WhatsApp. There’s a newly announced Dark Mode for the desktop as well, bringing the popular feature over from mobile platforms.

WhatsApp also says that it’s made it easier for group call participants to see what’s happening, too.

Improvements to group video calls: With now up to 8 people on a video call, we’ve made it easier to focus on whoever you want by letting you press and hold to maximize a participant’s video to full screen. We also added a video icon in group chats of 8 or less, so you can easily start a group video call with 1-tap.

WhatsApp says that these updates are rolling out to users “over the next few weeks” and that they’ll need to be using the latest versions of WhatsApp on their respective platforms to enjoy them.

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