WhatsApp’s having a big week with a second free app update

WhatsApp's engineers are working so quickly these days that it's hard to keep up: just hours after we reported on a new free update that's bringing video filters and backgrounds to everybody, it has dropped yet another free update.

This time the features are for everybody rather than just video callers, and they're designed to make it easier to share and like content in the app.

The new features are rolling out to everybody everywhere, so don't worry if you have the most recent app version but don't have access to the new features just yet; it can take a week or two for these rollouts to reach everybody.

And there are more updates on their way. WhatsApp says that it'll be bringing more features to the Status and Updates tab in the coming months "to make it easier to stay closest to those who matter most".

What's new in the newest WhatsApp update

The new update introduces two key features. The first is Private Mentions, and the second is Likes. Likes work just like they do in Instagram or other social apps: when you can't think of anything to say or just want to quickly show your approval for a status update, you can now tap on the heart icon at the bottom of the app window to Like it.

Status Likes aren't public and they don't come with a counter: other viewers can't see who else has liked a status post, as the list is only available to the poster.

The second new feature is also private. Private Mentions enable you to tag specific people who you want to see your status. Those people will be notified directly and privately, and the mentions won't appear anywhere on your status. The people you tag with Private Mentions will be able to re-share your status as normal.