WhatsApp Reportedly Working on Ability to Scan Documents on Android Smartphones

WhatsApp is working on a feature that will allow you to scan documents on your Android smartphone, according to a feature tracker. This functionality is already available on WhatsApp for iOS, and it allows you to scan a document without leaving the messaging app, and send them to other users (or yourself) as a media attachment. Last week, WhatsApp began testing a new AI feature that allows some beta testers on Android to see AI-powered message summaries in chats.

WhatsApp's Scan Document Feature Is Still in Development on Android

Nearly six months after the ability to scan documents was rolled out to WhatsApp for iOS, the messaging app appears to be working on the same feature for Android smartphones. Feature tracker WABetaInfo spotted the same Scan Document feature after updating to WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.18.29. However, this feature is still in development, and has yet to be enabled on the beta channel.

Document scanning is yet to roll out on the beta channel
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

According to the feature tracker, WhatsApp will eventually introduce a new Scan document feature that appears under the Browse documents and Choose from gallery options when selecting the Documents attachment option on WhatsApp. 

Based on what we've seen on WhatsApp for iOS, the feature is expected to launch the camera when the Scan document button is tapped. Users can choose to manually capture images, or let the app automatically capture images when it detects a document.

Once all the pages in the document have been scanned, WhatsApp will generate a PDF that can be sent to another user, or forwarded to yourself. The PDF can also be saved to the phone's local storage and you can share it with another application.

AI summaries for messages uses Private Computing
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

It's worth noting that you can also scan documents using the Google Drive app which is preinstalled on most Android smartphones, until WhatsApp brings its document scanner feature to your phone. The scan documents feature will eventually roll out to WhatsApp for Android beta testers, before arriving on the stable channel.

Earlier this month, some beta testers could access a new AI-powered message summarisation feature in chats. If you have installed WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.18.18 or a newer beta version, you might also get access to a new Summarise with Meta AI button inside chats with a certain, unspecified number of new messages, as per the feature tracker.

This new message summarisation feature reportedly sends a request to Meta's Private Processing system, in order to protect user privacy. However, if a user has enabled Advanced Chat Protection for a particular chat, AI-powered messages summary prompts will not be displayed for that chat.