WhatsApp recently introduced four new text formatting options, including bullet points, numbered lists, block quotes, and inline quotes. These new features are now available on all WhatsApp platforms, allowing users to format their messages more creatively and communicate more effectively. In addition to these text formatting updates, WhatsApp is also reportedly testing a new feature to prevent unauthorized screenshots of users’ profile pictures, enhancing privacy and security on the platform.
What’s Happening & Why This Matters
The newly added text formatting options are now available on all WhatsApp platforms, including Android, iOS, Web, and Mac. These features complement the existing bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace formatting options. To use the new formatting tools:
To create a bulleted list, users can add a hyphen symbol (-) at the start of a new line. Adding a space after the hyphen will automatically convert it into a bullet point. Entering a new line will add another bullet point, and stopping the list is as simple as tapping the backspace key.
Creating a numbered list is straightforward – users can type the number one (1) at the beginning of the line, followed by a period (.) and a space to start a numbered list. Any number other than one or adding a non-numbered sentence will break the list.
For block quotes, users can use the pipe symbol (|) before a sentence to highlight it, and to trigger it, just add the ‘greater than’ symbol (>) and a space.
Inline quotes can be formatted by adding the backtick symbol (`) before and after a sentence without any spaces in between.
These features have been rolled out globally and are expected to reach all users in the coming days.
t/f Summary: What’s Next
In addition to the new text formatting features, WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new privacy feature to prevent unauthorized screenshots of users’ profile pictures. This feature, spotted in the Android beta build version 2.24.4.25, will display a black screen and a message saying “Can’t take a screenshot due to app restrictions” if someone tries to take a screenshot of a profile picture. This additional layer of privacy and security aims to safeguard users’ personal information while using the platform.