Sajjad Naveed
WhatsApp, known for not releasing new features quickly seems very active now with new features release. Soon after introducing Video Calling option for its beta users, WhatsApp has realized the potential of video content over mobile and has begun rolling out a smart little option that will improve users’ video watching experience on its platform.
You will no longer need to download videos on WhatsApp to watch them — the app is rolling out a handy new feature that will let you stream videos while the video is downloading to your device.
Users in past had criticized WhatsApp on how it handles the videos however the new feature should help make watching videos on WhatsApp a lot more convenient and may save a few seconds off the waiting time between being sent a video and being able to watch that video.
This new feature is exclusively available on WhatsApp for Android app at the moment, and will be rolling out for other platforms in comings days.
“Now I don’t have to wait for a video to download before I can watch it. This is going to make life easier as I receive a lot of video content from friends & family;” Khalid Qamar, a Kuwait based user told KuwaitPoint.
This new streaming feature works in multiple ways. If your WhatsApp is set up to download media automatically once received, the video will start downloading to your device when it arrives and you will see the progress bar in the bottom left of the display, as usual. However, you will be able to watch it right away while it is downloading. Once the download is complete, the progress bar will be replaced with a video duration indicator.
On the other hand, if you have not set the app to download media automatically, you will still see the play button and will be able to stream the video when it arrives, but it will not actually download to your device automatically. To make that happen, you need to tap on the download button on the bottom left-hand corner of the display.
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