WhatsApp's testing changes to Status sharing, media captioning on iPhone

WhatsApp message thread on iPhone X (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz/iMore)

What you need to know

WhatsApp is tweaking the interface for adding captions to media.
Changes to choosing the audience of Status updates are also being made.

WhatsApp continues to tweak its iPhone app and now those running the latest beta release will notice two changes — a redesigned media caption interface and a change to how people set the audience for Status updates.

In changes to the latest WhatsApp beta shared by WABetaInfo, the instant messaging company appears to be altering how people add captions to media including photos and videos. The new interface now allows people to select additional recipients for the first time, too.

As you can see in this screenshot, some lucky iOS beta testers have now a redesigned caption view when sending media: it lets them select additional recipients before sending media (including status updates). This feature was previously available when taking a photo or recording a video from the Camera tab, but since WhatsApp is planning to replace it with the communities tab in a future update, the company is now adding this ability to the default caption view.

Whatsapp Status Sharing And Media Caption Screenshot (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

On top of that, the same report notes that WhatsApp is also tweaking the interface used when changing the audience for a Status update — although permanent changes will still need to be made via the app's privacy settings.

In addition, WhatsApp has also redesigned the interface when you want to change the audience for your status updates, but note that you still need to go to your status privacy settings if you want to definitely change it.

There is no indication of when the App Store version of WhatsApp will get these updates, however. WhatsApp is one of the best iPhone apps at what it does and these tweaks, while minor, are a good sign that the app will continue to be improved for the foreseeable future.

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.