WhatsApp head Will Cathcart says 2022 was its ‘biggest year yet’

Meta-owned WhatsApp has added over 20 new features this year making 2022 as the ‘biggest year yet’ for the instant messaging app, said company’s head Will Cathcard. Some of the features launched this year include Communities, improvements to groups, better calling and voice notes.
“2022 was our biggest year yet. Our team was so excited to build Communities, Reactions, Polls, Avatars, 32-person video calling and so much more. There’s a lot more coming in 2023!” Cathcart said.

The company also listed all the new features added in 2022. These include some utility and privacy-related features, and emojis.
WhatsApp privacy features
WhatsApp already offers end-to-end encryption by default and the feature keeps people’s conversations private. WhatsApp added more functionalities such as hiding online status, leaving groups silently wherein only admins are notified and Accidental Delete wherein you will get a chance to undo the “delete for me” action.
WhatsApp Communities
WhatsApp Communities is probably one of the most reported features this year. The feature enables institutions such as schools, local groups and workplaces to manage their conversations by bringing multiple groups under one umbrella.

WhatsApp group features
Earlier this year, WhatsApp introduced the ability to create in-chat polls, the option to add up to 1,024 members (up from 256) and admin delete enabling admins to delete problematic messages to maintain the decorum in groups.
WhatsApp voice and video calling
Just like in voice calls, WhatsApp now supports video calls with up to 32 people simultaneously. It also rolled out the ability to mute call participants, Call Links feature to invite people to a group call by sharing a call link, and in-call banner notifications to know someone new joins a group call.
WhatsApp voice messages
WhatsApp claims that over 7 billion voice messages are sent on WhatsApp every day. In March, WhatsApp introduced several improvements including out-of-chat playback, pause/resume recording, draft preview, remember playback to pick up from where you paused a voice recording and fast playback at 1.5x or 2x speed.

WhatsApp Avatars and emoji reactions
Recently, WhatsApp announced that users can create Avatars which can be used as profile pictures and sent as stickers to chats. It also enabled emoji reactions allowing users to ‘react’ to a message with any emoji. You can also see a ring around profile pictures of those who have uploaded a status, in your chat list.
WhatsApp utility features
Other utility features on WhatsApp include message yourself, share files, photos and videos up to 2GB (from the earlier 100MB limit) and migration of data between Android to iOS.