WhatsApp has begun rolling out emoji reactions to all of its users, in a move aimed at competing with Telegram, Apple’s iMessage, and Slack, as well as WhatsApp’s sibling site Instagram. The option to use emoticons to respond to individual and group chats on the app was introduced last month and has been in beta testing since then. In addition to reactions, WhatsApp is increasing the size limit for sharing files from 100MB to up to 2GB. Meta’s instant messaging software is also progressively increasing the group size limit from 256 to 512 members.
Reactions are designed to allow users to swiftly express their feelings and emotions in response to specific messages they receive from individuals and in group conversations without having to provide text responses.
Last month, WhatsApp announced the advent of responses, along with other major additions like Communities. For the past few months, the functionality has been in beta testing.
To add a reaction, long press on the message you wish to react to, then tap to select the emoji that appears. The sender of the communication being reacted to will be notified once you have responded to their message.
You can only add one reaction per message, according to the information on the FAQ page. This means you can’t have numerous reactions for the same message. You can, however, change your response by long-pressing on a message and then tapping a different emoji.
You can also delete your response to a message. To do so, long press on the message you responded to, then tap the emoji you responded with to remove it.