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WhatsApp just got a great free upgrade to save your time

WhatsApp just got a great free upgrade to save your time

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    WhatsApp on iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Credit: Rik Henderson / Future

Quick summary

WhatsApp has added a new Drafts feature.

It automatically saves unfinished messages and places them at the top of your chat list so you don’t forget them.

If you’re busy with many things at once or find that your train of thought is easily diverted, the latest free WhatsApp update is for you iPhone And Android will be very welcome.

The new feature, now rolling out globally, lets you pause while writing a message and come back to it later without losing what you’ve already typed or said.

The new Drafts feature is well-known in other apps, such as social media or email applications. But it’s not something you often encounter in messaging apps.

The addition is really useful: I always have to stop messaging because something else happens, so the ability to freeze a WhatsApp message without having to retrace your steps is very useful.

How to get the new WhatsApp drafts feature

As always with WhatsApp feature updates, these arrive automatically. And when you save a draft, it’s clearly labeled as such, with big green bold text below the recipient’s name and immediately before the text preview.

Your drafts will automatically be placed at the top of your chat list, making it easy to see your unfinished messages. To resume a draft, just tap it and pick up where you left off.

WhatsApp has been busy updating a bit lately. October added custom lists, improved contact management, changes to status updates, and a range of filters and backgrounds for video calls; and in September it added real-time communications with Meta AI.

But it’s features like the new Drafts functionality that I think make the biggest difference. It’s not as headline-friendly as adding artificial intelligence, but it’s the kind of small improvement you’ll notice again and again. That means it could potentially be a pretty big time saver.