WhatsApp to get music sharing, large emoji, public groups

WhatsApp could soon give users the ability to share their favorite music tracks with friends, according to leaked screenshots. The popular chat platform is also expected to support larger emoji characters, public groups, and more.

The screenshots obtained by German blog Macerkopf reveal that there are big improvements in the pipeline for WhatsApp. Perhaps the most exciting is the ability to share music tracks with your contacts.

It seems users will be able to share any track that’s stored locally on their iPhone, as well as those available in Apple Music. A small media player then appears in the chat thread, allowing the recipient to listen to the track without leaving the app.

It’s always been difficult to share music tracks with friends from an iPhone — especially those purchased from iTunes — so WhatsApp will likely have to overcome a number of hurdles to make this kind of functionality possible.

Features that would likely be easier to integrate include public groups with invitation links, and the ability to grab another user’s attention by using the @ symbol — like on Twitter. WhatsApp is also adding larger emoji characters for a greater impact.

Big emojis are so cool! ^_^ pic.twitter.com/bijJQoZVvK

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) June 21, 2016

New WhatsApp features often leak out ahead of their official unveilings in pre-release versions of the app. Not all of them make it into a final version, and those that do usually spend months in development before we can get our hands on them.

The latest leaks aren’t a guarantee of things to come, then — but they do give WhatsApp addicts something to look forward to.

Killian Bell

Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.