Now you can play YouTube videos right inside WhatsApp
With WhatsApp, you can finally watch videos with your friends.
The messaging platform has rolled out a new update to its iOS app that will allow users to play YouTube videos within the app itself, Hindustan Times reports.
Now, when you receive a YouTube link and click on it, the video will play in WhatsApp. Before, the video would open in the YouTube app or a browser.
You can also keep playing the video while you navigate to another chat, with a feature that WhatsApp refers to as "picture-in-picture."
The feature is not yet enabled, but WhatsApp news website WABetaInfo believes it will begin working tonight (though it's unclear where it got the timeframe info).
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Though this update is small, it has the potential to fix an all-too-common annoyance for many users. You can now watch videos alongside your friends, rather than having to pause your conversation, possibly getting pulled down a YouTube autoplay hole as more videos get cued up.
WhatsApp is also testing a feature that will allow you to mute videos in chats, in case your friends start pranking you with Rebecca Black videos.
This type of integration with third-party apps is new for the traditionally bare-bones user experience of WhatsApp. Will the Facebook-owned service heading down the same path as its cousin, Facebook Messenger, and become a more immersive, integrated user experience? This could be the first step.
Topics Facebook Google Social Media WhatsApp YouTube
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
