WhatsApp emoji reactions now rolling out to more users: Here’s how these work

WhatsApp began rolling out emoji reactions to users last week with a new update. However, not many users received the update on either Android or iOS. This is understandable as updates with new features often see a limited rollout first just to see if users face any weird unfixed bugs. However, WhatsApp users are now seeing a wider rollout for the feature. A new update coming to both Android and iOS devices now brings the emoji reaction feature to more people.
The emoji reactions feature is already available on Facebook Messenger and Instagram. It lets users react individually to each message with an emoji.  The reactions are visible on group and individual chats on iOS, Android and WhatsApp Web. The feature was first announced when WhatsApp confirmed its ‘Community’ feature, which will be rolling out later this year. Here’s how the feature looks on iOS.
Here’s how the emoji reaction looks when in action on iOS. (Express Photo)
WhatsApp emoji reaction: Here’s how to use
As seen in the image, which was taken from the WhatsApp for iOS app, users will get six pre-selected emoji to choose from when reacting to a message. The six emoji will show up when a user long-presses a message. Users can then simply tap on the desired emoji to send out a reaction.
The six emoji that are available right now include thumbs up, heart, the laughing emoji, the shocked emoji, the sad with a teardrop emoji and the prayer emoji. Users can not change these six emojis which means you cannot react with a separate emoji, at least for now. This feature could, however, come later on to the platform.

As per reports, WhatsApp could also bring sticker reactions and GIF reactions to the platform. These features were recently spotted on a developer build and could come to stable versions sooner or later.
In other news, WhatsApp is also testing emoji reactions for status updates. This feature, also in beta right now, will allow users to react to others’ status updates with emoji reactions, just like on Instagram. A leaked report suggests we will have eight fixed reactions on WhatsApp for Desktop, but it remains to be seen how many options we get on Android, iOS.