WhatApp’s newest feature is the ability to quickly send short video messages, similar to the voice messages the service already supports. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a short clip of the feature in action, showing the circular videos sent through the feature.
According to an accompanying blog post from WhatsApp, video messages can be up to 60 seconds long and automatically play in mute when a recipient opens a chat. That’s in contrast to voice messages, which don’t play automatically and can be as long as you want. You can send a video message by tapping the existing voice message icon to put it in video mode.
WhatsApp has long offered the ability to send videos, but the new video messaging feature removes some steps in the process, making it faster and more direct. If they work in the same way as voice messages, which only exist in WhatsApp, video messages should also prevent your phone’s camera roll from filling up with short, single-use clips.
The video messaging feature has been rolling out to WhatsApp on both iOS and Android since at least last month, and WhatsApp’s blog post says the feature will be available to “everyone” in the coming weeks.
