SAN FRANCISCO: Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new 'favourite contacts filter' feature, allowing users to prioritise their conversations and offer greater control and efficiency in the messaging experience.
The new feature spotted by WABetaInfo mentioned that it will appear with a dedicated chat filter in a future update of WhatsApp Web.
According to the report, the new feature will allow users to choose their favourite contacts and let them manually add the ones they care about most, and easily access them through a dedicated filter.
"By allowing users to mark specific contacts as favourites, WhatsApp enables them to prioritise key conversations, ensuring quick and easy access to those they frequently interact with," the report said,
"The introduction of favourite contacts not only simplifies the process of reaching out to frequently contacted users but also adds a layer of customisation, allowing them to improve their messaging experience to suit their preferences," it added.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly preparing to allow third-party messaging apps on its platform, ahead of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) that will come into force in March.
Dick Brouwer, an engineering director at WhatsApp, told Wired that the company is ready to offer interoperability on the platform with over 2 billion users.
"There’s real tension between offering an easy way to offer this interoperability to third parties while at the same time preserving the WhatsApp privacy, security, and integrity bar. I think we’re pretty happy with where we’ve landed," he was quoted as saying in the report.