WhatsApp for iOS adds settings to manage long-anticipated Reactions feature

WhatsApp for iOS has been working for at least six months on a new Reactions feature, which will look similar to iMessage and Facebook’s functions. Now, a new report shows Reactions are actually really close to its public launch.

As spotted by WABetaInfo, version 22.2.72 of WhatsApp beta for iOS brings new settings to manage notifications for reactions, although it’s still impossible to react to messages at the time being.

A few months ago, the publication was able to preview this new option in settings, but now, WhatsApp is rolling it out for all beta testers. Alongside the ability to enable or disable notifications for messages and group chats, the app will let you choose whether or not to receive notifications for reactions.

WABetaInfo says WhatsApp will release this feature very soon, and although you can’t react to messages right now, just to have this option available in settings means the app is closer than ever to launch this feature.

According to the publication, users will be able to “react to a specific message once and reactions are limited to six emojis. Currently, the figures available are “Like,” “Love,” “Laugh,” “Suprised,” “Sad,” and “Thanks.” As of now, it’s unclear whether WhatsApp will make any emoji available as a reaction, as Facebook now does with Instagram, or if it’s going to be more limited the way Twitter is also working with reactions.

Users will also be able to see all reactions to a message in two different tabs: “All” and also with the specific emoji used, which means users can click on the figure to see everyone in a group chat that reacted to a message.

We’ll let you know once reactions are available to all users. What do you think of this new function? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.