WhatsApp to get video save, multiple photo support in forthcoming update

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

When WhatsApp isn’t pushing out public updates on a regular basis for Windows Phone, they’re busy jamming them out behind the scenes for their private beta. Looking at the latter, version 2.11.318 is making the rounds and it has been discovered that a few new features are on board. (The current public version is 312).

That’s good news as it means those features will be headed to the official, public version, presumably in a few weeks (or sooner).

So what’s new? Glad you asked as we have some screenshots and details.

WhatsApp (Private Beta) version 2.11.318

  • Save videos
  • Save profile picture
  • Attach up to 10 images per message

One of the biggest complaints, besides the previously-solved “streaming music” function, is in the inability to attach videos in the app. The bad news is that’s still not available, even in the beta, but you can now save them when they are sent to you (you can forward too).

This is done via the auto-save of media function in the app. When you tap someone’s profile name, it takes you to their profile page. You can then scroll to Media to see the video (or photos) sent to you. But in addition, the video is auto-saved to your phone’s media library under Saved Pictures. That’s pretty convenient, and while it doesn’t solve that big video attach issue (which is an OS limitation), it’s a step in the right direction.

Saving of the profile picture is not really new, as it has been in the beta for a while. In essence, when you tap on a person’s name, it takes you to their profile. From there, you can tap their profile photo and then save it to the phone. Not a huge deal, but a nice touch.

Finally, users will be able to add multiple images per message. In fact, you can reportedly send up to 10 images, which is a handful. The device may take a few seconds to register those add-ons, but it does work. That feature is a lot easier than sending multiple messages one at a time and should make many folks happy.

No word on when these features will roll out to users, but you can bet it won’t be long.

Via: WPArea.de; Thanks, Umar and others for the tips!

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

85 Comments
  • About time...
  • Good going whatsapp
  • Sweet lawd Jesus, thank you! XD
  • Finally...
  • Thanks Whatsapp, keep the updates coming!
  • Calm down, Daniel, you've written almost half the articles today lol
  • Yeah, seriously! Gotta get Rich and Sam on the ball, lol.
  • That or decrease their pay ;)
  • Any news about Path app?
  • Same story as TR 2..
  • Now(beta) it saves all of your received files in a folder named whatsapp :)
  • ^ This !!! :D I don't like the way WP saves everything under "Saved pictures"
  • Maybe some UI changes, new backgrounds and live tile with green whatsapp logo :-)
  • Daniel,  any idea if whatsapp is planning to have similar integration as the native messaging app, so when you activate "read aloud incoming text messages" in the speech settings it will do that for whatsapp?
  • Good question but no idea what their roadmap/plans are for the app. So far though, it looks like they will push it as far as it can go on WP, so I suppose anything is on the table.
  • I wonder if there are limitations with regards to that feature on the OS end, where it prevents devs from implementing that
  • They recently had a job posting for someone familiar with the windows phone SDK may be...Wp8.1
  • WHY aren't we talking about the elephant in the room.... Windows Phone OS limitations. Its the cause of many features missing in ur face apps, whatsapp is just one of them. Hopefully WP8.1 will address most of them
  • Because we've beat that topic to death already.
  • Background? And that vibration in-d-app ?
  • Is there a way to sign up/volunteer for the beta?
  • Daniel, can you please check if we can also send and songs? One of my friends bought a lumia on my recommendation and is now furious as there is no way to share and save music and videos with people who are not it your vicinity. Her old BB can do it and I got thrashed like crazy! Also, I hope there would be an option to save these files to the memory card.
  • Nope. Presumably it's the same "media access limitation" issue for videos.
  • But we could atleast transfer it using the data cable? Otherwise phones with 8 gb memory would suffer a lot! more that 2 gb is already eaten up by other storage! i know sending an email is an option. But some people just use chat messengers like whatsapp and bbm as it is much more convenient than opening the email. Here in India, many people do not have internet access on their phones but can use BBM with its full features. If tomorrow BBM comes to WP, then due to these stupid limitation, it would also be crippled :(
  • "i know sending an email is an option. But some people just use chat messengers like whatsapp and bbm as it is much more convenient than opening the email."
    Right but that's besides the point. Native apps always have deeper access. There are no APIs/keys for third party apps to do so.
  • so is there a native app which can be used to share songs? Please pardon my ignorance.
  • Are you not able to email a song from your phone if you share it from the music app?
  • i know sending an email is an option. But some people just use chat messengers like whatsapp and bbm as it is much more convenient than opening the email. Here in India, many people do not have internet access on their phones but can use BBM with its full features. If tomorrow BBM comes to WP, then due to these stupid limitation, it would also be crippled :(
  • Emailing songs works perfectly fine
  • Photos & videos will be saved in.. \Phone\Pictures\WhatsApp
  • A new UI will also help
  • +920
  • +720
  • +HTC Radar :P
  • +920
  • +UI
  • Really.. The UI sucks, in my opinion :( the "Hike" app has a much better UI than Whatsapp..
  • And UI improvements? :/
  • Way to go WhatsApp... Its good to see more features coming on to WhatsApp...
  • God..thanks..many more things..WP is finally looking more promising than ever..with the new plethora of apps and the existing ones actually being updated. Now if only GDR3 is rolled sooner, cuz i hear that the OS is more efficient with GDR3.. Will save me the battery woes. If anyone wants to, please feel free to correct me. :)
  • Why haven't you done the "Enthusiast program" and get GDR 3 already?
  • I thought I'd wait for the official black. Besides, i heard it has some bugs and that it could void my warranty if i do that. I heard it. Is that true. If not then I'll do it right away. :D
  • MSFT's website states that upgrading the device to GDR3 through the preview "Might" void the warranty.. I already have GDR3 in my device, and I love the rotation lock and the ability to close apps through the multitasking window.. :P
  • Exactly. Besides, i am not particularly informed about whether it'd be a tough task to install black when it comes out with the official gdr3 if i install that enthusiast program gdr3. Anybody has any insight on that..??
  • Technically this is official GDR 3 (its the rtm build shipped to manufacturers). When the Black update comes out you'd just update the phone like normal even if your on the developer program.
  • Ahh..really.? So i shouldn't be expecting any shenanigans and should update the device without any fear.?
  • That's what Microsoft promised ;)
  • Forgive me for being a pedant but I was under the impression that the video attatchment issue isn't an "OS limitation" but rather a limitation placed on what libraries are available to normal developers. "Interop" developers do have access to such features such as Nokia (Video upload etc).
  • In technical terms your right, but sadly third party devs like me or the people at WhatsApp can't submit apps that are using interop or "internal" non-documented APIs. A great example of this is adding your app to the phones stock settings page, Nokia can do it, I can do it. But if I'd submit it like that it would get rejected because I'm a "third party" developer.
  • Upload video from library?
  • Read the article
  • Hi Daniel, do you know if the team has any plans to bring Whatsapp to Windows 8? That would be pretty awesome if it could happen!
  • Why can I access the phone (library) to send pictures, but there is a limitation to access the phone and send videos? :( I never get that.
  • Because it is enabled by MS
  • wow, most demanded feature ever.
    How funny is this. Even my X2-01 had this feature and we are getting this on WP now!!
  • Have they removed the in-app vibration that occurs whenever a new message arrives when you are in the app? God, hope they have removed it; it is a huge battery drain and phone gets heated up as well.
  • 1.- About time!!, the capability of sending 10 pics in a row. 2.- UI REMADE now, please. The current one is fugly as hell.
  • +920
  • Glad to see those updates coming out. Custom notifications would be nice.
  • Is there any news about UI change. More colorful bright, background change. Huh, it ll be long journey with WhatsApp...
  • I'm SO MAD with Whatsapp, it doesn't allow me to clean history on a group conversation without exiting it. FUCK. This was available before, NOW IT'S NOT. GRRRERR
  • You will have to go into the conversation and clear message history.
  • Hey, microsoft. Please, add some speed to this app)))
  • Oh god why
  • The best feature to send multiple photos! However hope that OS limitation for attaching video will finish soon!
  • Yeah whatsapp I still believe in you!!
  • I am sorry. All these updates are useless. I don't understand this philosophy of adding exotic features that are used infrequently, while ignoring the basic functioning of the app. They still haven't fixed the problem with toast notifications, where you can continue getting toast notifications for several minutes even after you have checked the messages.. That's the most irritating feature of the app since the day it was launched and hasn't been fixed yet. It is the reason my friends even switched to Android.
  • Toast notifications are better now after some of previous updates..
  • Yeah, i think network is to blame. I get notifications instantly
  • I always wanted that whatsapp logo to be appeared whenever i started the app instead of just the background pattern...
  • What i want to see is the ability to type a message WITH the picture as opposed to sending a separate message.
    And what about the push notification issue? I cant be the only one that still gets that problem of only receiving a message when I open the app, and yes i have tried turning the phone off and in again like the message tells me to.
  • I have no issue with push notifications now. May be it is network which causes it. I rectified it and so far get notifications correctly
  • it become better
  • Design lock password to open WhatsApp add this feature also
  • +1
  • 10 images at one shot....! That's great..
  • Yeah if they could also allow us to formward multiple messages and media like in android. That would be great.
  • When are different coloured speech bubbles coming? Its such a fundamental thing.
  • Is there any way to sign up for beta?? Please i want to... as i can use FB beta then why not Whats app Beta??
  • Would be great when Whatsapp integrates in wp8 Messages. Get your Whatsapp messages as spoken text when driving your car! ;-) Just like sms-es in WP8.
  • yeahh
  • What's the point when they can't fix the crashes. Specially when old messages are loaded.
  • <p>I dont want to save all these photos and videos received via whatsapp...what should I do plz tell me...?</p>
  • Unable to update or reinstall, getting error code : 80004004
    DEVELOPER PLS HELP
  • I'm having the same issue, do you get a solution?