WhatsApp has fixed one of the irritations of using the Messenger app by allowing YouTube clips to be played directly in a chat as part of its latest iOS update.
When users tap on a YouTube link in a conversation they no longer have to leave the app in order to watch it.
Instead the video appears with a floating window on the screen so users can message friends and watch videos simultaneously.
‘When you receive a link to a YouTube video, you can now play it right within WhatsApp’, the new update read on the AppStore.
‘With picture-in-picture, you can also keep watching the video while you navigate to another chat’.
Users can also resize the video window using a pinch gesture, as well as maximising it to full screen for a better view.
Previously users were forced to watch videos sent by friends and family in a full screen window on YouTube.
This stops you from being able to continue your conversation as you watch clips and means you have to continuously switch back and forth.
According to Twitter account @WABetaInfo, the new feature will be ready tonight on iOS.
‘Note that the YouTube feature in WhatsApp is currently disabled, also if the changelog reports it. Probably they missed to enable it.
‘I will inform you when WhatsApp will enable it from the server, probably tonight.’
The latest update also allows users to record long messages with Locked Recordings, writes Mac Rumours.
When recording a message the padlock on the right-hand side of the chat allows users to lock the recording.
When it’s down, users can tap the send button which ends the recording and sends the message.
‘Want to easily record long Voice Messages? When recording a Voice Message, just swipe up to lock recording so you can continue to record without keeping your finger down,’ read the AppStore description.
It is not known when it will be available on Android.
In July, the new function was uncovered by WABetaInfo, who looked at the data contained in the App Store’s version 2.17.40 update for WhatsApp.
In a written statement on WABetaInfo in July, the tech blog’s author said: ‘How many times did you receive a YouTube link on WhatsApp and you were annoyed that WhatsApp opened YouTube to view it?
‘Finally this won’t happen anymore. This new feature implemented in WhatsApp uses the Picture in Picture concept to view YouTube videos without opening it.
‘In that case the Picture in Picture mode will disappear, unfortunately.’
MailOnline contacted WhatsApp for a comment, but has not yet received a response. The release is likely to be global but this has not been confirmed.
