WhatsApp tests pausing of voice note recording on the desktop

Whatsapp On Mac (Image credit: WhatsApp)

What you need to know

WhatsApp is testing a change that will let people pause the recording of voice notes on Macs.
The latest WhatsApp desktop beta includes the new feature.
There is no telling when pausing will be rolled out to everyone.

The popular instant messaging service WhatsApp is testing a change to its desktop app that will allow people to pause the recording of voice messages. Currently, people can only stop recordings but the change will allow them to pause and then re-start them at will.

First spotted by WABetaInfo, the new feature is only available to those on the WhatsApp beta program right now.

Whatsapp Voice Note Pausing (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

As you can see in this screenshot, there is a new pause button (in the previous version, there was a stop icon) that allows you to pause the voice note. In this situation, you can listen to the voice note before sending it, you can delete the voice note or you can resume the recording!

This same feature is already available for WhatsApp's iPhone users and it now seems likely to only be a matter of time before it is also made available to those who use the Mac app, too.

WhatsApp is already one of the best iPhone apps for instant messaging and it continues to grow on the Mac, too. While there is no indication of when this feature will be made available to all, it will surely be a welcome one once it lands. Being able to pause and re-start a voice recording can be useful for people who send lengthy messages via voice.

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.