Advertisement

News

WhatsApp bringing skin tones to message reactions

WhatsApp bringing skin tones to message reactions
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

Another day and another WhatsApp update for you here at Softonic. Continuing its work to improve on the new message reactions feature that is already proving popular with users, WhatsApp is working on an inclusive update that will bring it up to speed with regular emojis on the app.

WhatsApp Download Now

The latest beta version for Android, which dropped last week includes some interesting tweaks to the feature and the kind folks at WABetaInfo have been playing around with them. Let’s dive into them now:

Skin tones for emojis have been around for a long time and marked a welcome and inclusive update to emojis, allowing users to feel more represented when expressing visual reactions. It now looks like WhatsApp is going to include skin tone options for message reactions too.

In the screenshot above you can see that the thumbs up and praying hands emojis both have different skin tones. You can also see that the thumbs up emoji has kept the same skin tone from a previously used emoji reaction meaning that as well as the skin tone options, the update is also bringing some of the functionality from regular emojis too. If you have recently selected a certain skin tone for one of the message reactions that will stay available to use without having to reselect the skin tone each time.

As this feature is still in beta testing we can’t say when it will roll out to all users. This does form part of a long line of tweaks and updates to the message reactions feature, however, including improving how you can react to albums and even which emojis you can use to react to WhatsApp messages. It would be likely that these features will all drop to the main app together.

If you are a big WhatsApp user, make sure you check out all the latest WhatsApp news so that you know all the new features that are on the way.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

Latest from Patrick Devaney

Editorial Guidelines