WhatsApp brings Instagram edits to messaging with new Boomerang feature
WhatsApp (sorry, WhatsApp from Facebook) is getting a new addition to its video editing screen and it looks suspiciously similar to the Boomerang feature we've seen on fellow Facebook-owned Instagram.
News of the new feature was shared yesterday by WhatsApp news website, WABetaInfo. WABetaInfo claims that Facebook has been working on the new video editing setting for the messaging service over the past few weeks.
Related: Facebook just figured out how to kill off everyone's love of WhatsApp
The original Boomerang app was a video editing service created by Instagram to allow users to take short videos and loop them back in reverse. The feature was first released as a separate app to be used in conjunction with Instagram in 2015 and has remained popular since, having been downloaded over one million times as of 2019.
Soon, opening the Video Type panel on WhatsApp might allow you to turn a seven or below second video into a boomerang as opposed to keeping it as a video or formatting the clip into a gif. The video can then be shared with friends and family directly via the messaging service or set as a status update so everyone can see it.
WhatsApp hasn't been having the best week. Between being rebranded as �WhatsApp from Facebook' and inheriting its parent company's not so trustworthy reputation and Apple planning to revoke the messaging app's VOIP function in iOS 13, WhatsApp has been taking one hit after another. However, this new feature could certainly be a sign that it hopes to bounce back and do its best to retain users that might otherwise migrate to Telegram or Viber.
Related: Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp facing major iOS 13 clampdown
The video looping feature for WhatsApp doesn't appear to be available just yet - even in the latest WhatsApp beta - but we might expect to see it on iOS or Android at some point in the future. WABetaInfo stated that the feature would be available on iOS first before eventually rolling out to Android users.
