WhatsApp is now rolling out the ability to reply to messages with emoji and share files up to 2 GB in size, a huge jump from the previous 100 MB limit. Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, said last month that these features would be “coming soon” and it looks like it is today. The company also announced on Thursday that it will double the size limit for group chats.
When the comments were first announced, Meta said you’d only be able to use a select few to begin with, but support for “all emojis and skin tones” would be added in the future.
The comments are a handy feature, which is why other apps like Slack and Telegram have had them for a while – if you want to be able to show that a post made you laugh without hiding the group chat, now you have a way to do that . That will soon become extra important, as WhatsApp also extends the default maximum size of group chats, with the limit from 256 to 512 (although there have reportedly been hack-y fixes to exceed the previous limit).
WhatsApp’s blog post notes that larger groups are being rolled out “slowly”, while emoji reactions and increased file size limits are becoming available in the current version of the app. Meta spokesperson Vispi Bhopti said: The edge that the company expects comments to roll out to everyone in “about a week”, but added that some users already have the feature.
Update May 5, 7:13 PM ET: Added information about how long it will take for emoji reactions to roll out.
