WhatsApp is testing animated heart emojis on iPhone

Whatsapp Group Message on iPhone X (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz/iMore)

What you need to know

WhatsApp is testing some animated emojis on iPhone.
Multiple heart emojis are available for testing if you're part of the WhatsApp TestFlight beta.
Only some of those who are on the latest WhatsApp beta have the new animated hearts available.

The popular instant messaging app WhatsApp is testing a change that brings animated emojis to iPhone. Right now only a number of colorful heart emojis are available but it seems likely that more will be added by the time the feature is launched for everyone.

Right now only some people of those who are on the WhatsApp beta able to use the emojis, as noted by WABetaInfo.

Whatsapp Animated Heart Emojis (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

Today there is news: WhatsApp is rolling out the animation for certain iOS beta testers!As you can see in this video, all heart emojis are now animated, not only the red heart one. In order to see the animation, the feature must also be enabled for the recipient of the message.

There is currently no indication of when more beta testers will be able to take the animated hearts for a spin or when it will be made available to everyone. However, WhatsApp is normally fairly good at making sure features work their way from TestFlight beta to the App Store and we're hopeful this latest test will come to fruition sooner rather than later.

WhatsApp is one of the best iPhone apps in terms of instant communication, even with people across different platforms — something that makes chatting with Android users all the easier. Sure, it would be nice if Android folks had access to iMessage but that seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.