WhatsApp is my most used app, but its development seems stagnant.
Which is not always a bad thing for software, but WhatsApp could really improve some things, especially when those improvements seem trivial. Some wishes could even be classified as bugs: which they should really fix.
In no particular order (for iOS).
- Multi-select on media search
When you use the global search (pull down on iOS) and select a category (Photos, Documents etc.) you cannot multi-select on the exposed grid. I use this grid for selecting/deleting stuff. But deleting one thing at a time makes the whole experience rather tiresome. - Mass delete media types
In the same vain: give me a button to mass delete gifs. Sure they’re fun, but I don’t need to keep them around. Especially Giphy or Tenor gifs. This probably goes for other media types as well. - Search re-index
When you switch / upgrade your phone and restore a backup, you better pull down on the search bar and enter a search and WAIT for the re-index to finish. Sure I can live with that, but when you forget to do so, you only get to search new chats….(until you switch phones). At least give me a way to kick off the re-index again. - More than just starring
Now I can only star a message. That’s it. I need labels. - Move archived chats to somewhere else
This one is truly baffling. WhatsApp decided to put your archived chats — you know, chats that you don’t need direct access to — at THE TOP OF THE CHATS, and all active and current chats are below the archived chats. Stunning. I accidentally click / tap multiple times per week on these archived chats. Please move them somewhere else. - Preview on links!
What is up with this? This worked fine, then it stopped working, then it worked half, and at the moment when you copy/paste a link, there is no preview. But when someone replies to your link: there is a preview! 🤷♂️ Also when you directly post a Twitter URL: no preview. But when sharing the link from the Twitter app to WhatsApp: sure, you get a link preview. - More post reactions
They *finally* added this last week! It keeps chats cleaner and more pleasant. But it seems I can only choose from 5 emojis. I need more!
I may not be a typical user, my WhatsApp archive dates back 12 years, and is around 40GBs. I sent 166378 messages and received 573376 messages at the time of writing. I keep pruning larger images/videos, but most chats I want to keep, it’s like a diary for me.
So maybe my wishes go against what WhatsApp wants to be: a very basic, low-entry one-to-many chatapp. But really, I’d happily pay for some of these features, but I guess a pro app is (no not the WhatsApp business app) is out of the question?
