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WhatsApp is rolling out Smart Text Actions feature for Android and iPhone users. It can recognize the phone number, date, time, address and email address present in the chat and show a dotted underline below them. Tapping on it will provide shortcuts like saving a number, making a call, adding an event to the calendar, opening maps or sending an email. Know how this new feature will work and which users are getting it.
While chatting on WhatsApp, many times one has to save someone’s phone number, put the date of a meeting in the calendar or send a mail to an email address. Now the need to frequently change apps for these small tasks can be reduced. WhatsApp is rolling out a new Smart Text Actions feature, which identifies important information present in the message and shows shortcuts related to it.
Dotted underline will be visible below the text in the chat – According to the report of WABetaInfo, Smart Text Actions feature is being made available for some users of WhatsApp on Android and iOS. This feature can automatically recognize information like phone number, date, time, email address or address in a message. Photo: WABetaInfo
On receiving such information, dotted underline may appear below the text. Tapping on that text will open a pop-up menu, in which options related to it will be available. Recognition information will also appear above the menu so the user can check whether the app has recognized the correct text.
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This feature can work in private and group chats as well as in sent and received messages. If the user does not want to use these shortcuts, he or she can ignore the underlined text and continue chatting as normal. Different options will be available for number, date and email – Different shortcuts will be available according to the text in Smart Text Actions. Tapping on a phone number gives you the option to copy it, save it to contacts, or call it.
At the same time, you will get the facility to copy the date and time, add it to the phone’s calendar or create a new event inside WhatsApp. Navigation can be started by opening any address in the Maps app. Tapping on an email address may reveal options like sending the mail in the default email app or copying the address. Some of these tasks could be done in WhatsApp before, but the new feature presents them in a more organized way in one place.
Users will be able to give feedback on shortcuts – WhatsApp can also ask for feedback from users regarding suggested shortcuts. After selecting a text action, a screen may appear asking whether the suggestion was useful or not. This can help the app understand how useful the text recognition and provided options are.
At present, WhatsApp has not officially announced the launch of Smart Text Actions feature. Its rollout is being done gradually, so despite using the latest Android and iOS versions, this feature may not be available to all users immediately.
