iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus WhatsApp iOS Update; 3D Touch Improves User Interface and Works On Facebook as well

By Mark Rollins
WhatsApp Logo
WhatsApp update really incorporates the new iPhones' 3D Touch WhatsApp/Facebook

If you aren't familiar with WhatsApp, it is an instant messaging app for smartphones the has a subscription business model, and the cross-platform app uses the Internet to send text messages, images, video, audio media messages, and information about the user's location.  WhatsApp recently received an update that allows it to work well with a new feature on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the 3D Touch.  This 3D Touch feature is also used on Facebook and other applications. 

According to Gadgets 360 on NDTV, WhatsApp for iOS has recently been updated to version 2.12.9, and is adding support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.  The 3D Touch is one of the new features for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, and it allows the newest iPhone models to discern the difference between a long press and a quick tap.  According to Neurogadget, this 3D Touch will not work should the user select the Quick reply element to respond to messages located in the banner notification. 

This 3D Touch input for WhatsApp will allow its iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus users to use "Peek and Pop" gestures based on the pressure applied to the screen.  The International Business Times describes the Peek as the ability to zoom-out and get an over-the-top view of everything, while the Pop function will zoom-in in order to provide a better view of the in-app features.  These "Peek and Pop" features apply to pictures, videos, links, contact cards, and locations that you send and receive in chats. 

The Indian Express reports that the 3D Touch has not only helped improve WhatsApp, but it also will improve Facebook as well.  The options for the Facebook include updating Facebook status, capture a video or photo, or share one that is on the phone.  This actually makes a lot of sense, as Facebook acquired WhatsApp in February of 2014.  Other third-party apps that support the 3D touch Display are Dropbox, Pinterest, WeChat, and Shazam. 

In addition to the 3D Touch features, the new WhatsApp comes with various bug fixes as well.  The Changelog also describes another new feature as the WhatsApp Interface is now mirrored and optimized for right-to-left languages like Arabic. 

In fact, there are quite a few languages that are supported with this release, and the list includes English, Arabic, Bokmål, Norwegian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.  Considering that WhatsApp has over 900 million users, it is good that it is prepared for a worldwide market. 

The new version of WhatsApp can be run on any device running iOS 6.0 or higher, and it can be downloaded at the iTunes Store