WhatsApp update enables drawing on photos and videos, new camera features & more

WhatsApp drawing iPhone screenshot 001

WhatsApp’s latest update, which surfaced this morning on the App Store, brings the ability to draw on photos and videos and adorn your media with text or emoji. You can also express yourself by sticking huge emojis on top of photos and videos. Users automatically see the new editing tools when capturing a new photo or video or sharing one that’s already on their phone. Coming soon: support for Retina flash for the selfie camera, zooming during video capture and a shortcut for quickly switching between cameras.

“Whether you’re drawing a big red heart to show how much you miss someone or adding your favorite emoji—sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words,” developers wrote.

The editing tools allow you to pick a brush size for drawing and select from two special brushes: the pixelate and color remover brushes. You can also add optional text to your photo or video and choose your font style by dragging left on the color selector.

These new editing tools require at least the iPhone 5s with iOS 9 or later.

If you send a lot of selfies to your WhatsApp friends and family, you’ll be pleased to learn that the app’s built-in camera now supports Retina flash for the front-facing camera.

To quickly switch between front and rear facing cameras, double tap on the screen. As a bonus, you can also zoom while recording videos: just slide the finger up and down to zoom in and out. These new camera features will be rolling out on Android starting today and on iPhone soon.

Today’s update has also enabled another new feature that permits group administrators to now invite people to join a group simply by sharing a link with them: just tap Group Invite Link on the group information screen.

WhatsApp is available free from the App Store.