Whatsapp ramps up visual interface; adds filters, albums and reply shortcuts

Camera is increasingly turning into the new keyboard and Whatsapp is no stranger to the fact. While its big brother—namely Instagram—dukes it out with Snapchat, dishing out one camera feature after another in the west, Whatsapp refuses to be left behind, popularizing the way of visual communication around the globe.

Whatsapp has released a slew of features to enhance the app’s visual interface in its most recent update released yesterday. The features, which are presently iOS exclusives, have upgrades regarding its image input which was somewhat outdated when compared to others. This comes months after its previous iOS exclusive update which increased integration with Siri.

So what does the update loaded with? Not a lot really, but the features are all useful and should keep users happy.

Firstly, there are the new filters. Snapchat has finally added filters to its armory of features, starting with 5 of them. Now users can just swipe to enhance their photos, videos and Gifs and jazz up their imagery. Users have a choice of filters ranging from Pop, black and white, chrome, cool and film filters.

Then there is the new Album feature, something that has existed on Instagram and Facebook for a long time. Previously to send a bunch of images, you had to select all the images individually and send it. Classifying them into groups of specific was tough and laborious even. Now while sending pictures, Whatsapp will automatically classify it into albums with a tile layout and going through it is as easy as eating pie.

Whatsapp has also added a reply shortcuts feature that lets users reply to a specific message by just swiping on it. This is especially useful in group chats where a reply can be lost in a ton of other messages.

While it is an iOS exclusive update at present, Whatsapp plans to make it available for android soon. “We’d like to add these features to the Android app in the future, but do not have timing to share yet,” a Whatsapp representative told Techcrunch.

With the new update Whatsapp seems to be finally waking up to the importance of visual input in the app. While the Snapchat like ‘status’ feature marked the beginning of its shift to a more image based approach, this update confirms it.