There’s just something about GIFs that makes them the perfect reaction tool when chatting with your friends online. The animated pictures can convey just the right amount of humor, sarcasm, or whatever emotion you want, as can be seen through Facebook’s extensive range of GIFs in Facebook Messenger. WhatsApp has finally stepped up to the plate and is preparing to enable GIF support within their chats.
The popular messaging app is releasing an iOS beta update to allow users to see moving GIF images right from their conversations, as opposed to having to exit the app and view the GIFs in a browser.
Twitter account @WABetaInfo, which tracks changes in WhatsApp’s beta releases, mentioned that version 2.16.7.1 of the app will be able to autoplay GIF links and embed them directly into conversations. Users can also save the GIFs as ‘simple images’—but why anyone would want to have GIFs that can’t animate in their photo library is beyond me.
But don’t get too excited though, because unlike Facebook, you won’t be able to directly share GIFs with your friends just yet. The changelog states that users are unable to upload GIF images from their devices, and can only use GIFs from links for the time being. A little disappointing but oh well, it’s better than nothing!