WhatsApp videos to soon get one of YouTube’s best features

One of the key aspects where WhatsApp has been picking up the pace in recent years is the messaging app’s media capabilities. From higher resolution support for both photos and videos, the app is now a much more capable platform to share media files than just a year ago. Now, WhatsApp is adding yet another awesome feature to the mix, which will really help a lot if you watch a lot of shared videos – skip buttons.

A new report by WABetaInfo suggests that WhatsApp latest Beta for Android phones packs two new button on the video player – skip backward and skip forward. The buttons will allow users watching a downloaded video straight from the app to quickly jump 10 seconds forward or backward seamlessly during playback.

Why WhatsApp's skip buttons make sense

Made popular by streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix, the skip forward and backward buttons can today be found on most apps involving videos, often allowing users to skip 10 seconds forward or backward, especially on their smartphones. Some platforms even let you customise this number higher or lower, to say to 5 or 15 seconds.

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The buttons coming to WhatsApp is a great step towards making WhatsApp more media-friendly. Used in many parts of the world, including India, as the primary platform to quickly share pictures and videos, WhatsApp is the go-to app for social communities, project groups at college, or even work settings. With skip buttons, users will be able to rewind and go quickly through all videos they send and receive.

It isn’t currently known if and when the feature will make it to the stable version of WhatsApp, but the process could take a few weeks at least. It also remains unclear if the ability will also come to the iOS version of WhatsApp. To get access to the feature right now, you can try your luck at getting admitted to the WhatsApp Beta program, and keep an eye for the latest update on the Play Store.