WhatsApp for Android Gets Starred Messages Feature

WhatsApp for iOS recently received the new Starred Messages feature that allowed users to quickly access bookmarked messages including images, videos, or other content quickly. The feature is now available to Android users.

The latest version of WhatsApp (v2.12.339) for Android which is now available via the company's website adds the feature to the app. The new Starred Messages bookmarking feature can be used via tapping and holding a message, apart from media content. The message would then be saved in a separate new Starred Messages tab. Once a message is starred, the star icon appears next to the message.

It's worth noting that the latest Starred Messages feature is yet to make it to the app available on Google Play, and is currently only available via the company's website or signed APK file. We can expect the company to rollout the latest update to Google Play in the coming days.

Last month, WhatsApp for Android appeared to get a URL preview feature in a future updates. Though, the rich URL preview is still not present in the latest app update.

Based on initial details, the rich preview feature generated a preview for a shared link on the sender side and didn't show the preview on the receiver side, which indicated that the company may still be working on the feature. WhatsApp for Android last month officially received backup and restore options for chat history and media via Google Drive.

Recently, WhatsApp for iPhone received an update that added the feature to the app allowing users running iOS 9.1 and above to quick reply via notification centre. The feature allowed users to reply to any notification that popped up on the device right from the Notification Centre without opening the app.