WhatsApp has made a subtle change that has left many users furious.
The Meta-owned app has quietly added a speech bubble animation, which appears when someone you’re messaging is typing.
The feature replaces the ‘typing…’ message, which usually appears at the top of the screen under your contact’s name.
While this might sound like a minor change, many users have flocked to X (formerly Twitter) to discuss it.
Taking to X, one user wrote: ‘i hate the new whatsapp typing box.’
Another added: ‘Just realised the typing bubble is on WhatsApp now.
‘That update caught me off guard.’
And one vented: ‘The new Whatsapp typing animation seems purposely designed to give me anxiety.’
WhatsApp is without a doubt one of the most popular apps around the world. And if you’re one of the two billion people who use it, you may have noticed a subtle change in recent weeks (stock image)
The Meta-owned app has quietly added a speech bubble animation, which appears when someone you’re messaging is typing
One user vented: ‘The new Whatsapp typing animation seems purposely designed to give me anxiety’
The new speech bubble animation is very similar to the one used in Apple’s iMessage, and shows three dots bouncing up and down as your contact types.
It was initially tested with a small group of users back in October.
Speaking to The Telegraph at the time, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: ‘This was just a small test, but it’s going back to normal now.’
However, several users – including MailOnline’s Shivali Best – have noticed the speech bubble appearing in their chats this week.
This suggests that WhatsApp has implemented the change more widely.
MailOnline has contacted WhatsApp’s spokesperson for confirmation.
The change hasn’t gone down well with many users on X.
‘No wayyy WhatsApp removed typing and added this…’ one user wrote alongside two crying emoji.
Several users – including MailOnline’s Shivali Best – have noticed the speech bubble appearing in their chats this week
One user vented: ‘Hello WhatsApp can we just go back to so and so is typing? This dot dot dot bouncing up and down is getting to be annoying’
One user wrote: ‘Not a fan of the 3 bubbles indicator when someone is typing on WhatsApp. Woke iMessage nonsense’
Another wrote: ‘Not a fan of the 3 bubbles indicator when someone is typing on WhatsApp. Woke iMessage nonsense.’
And one vented: ‘Hello WhatsApp can we just go back to so and so is typing? This dot dot dot bouncing up and down is getting to be annoying.’
However, others have welcomed the change.
‘WhatsApp finally removed the ‘typing’ notification from the top and brought it downwards to where it belongs,’ one user tweeted.
Another added: ‘I like the new WhatsApp typing indicator.’
And one joked: ‘Love the new typing indication in WhatsApp. But it would be more fun to see the number of characters being typed.’
The update comes just seven months after WhatsApp infuriated users by giving ‘Online’ and ‘Typing’ – words displayed under the other user’s name in your chats – capital letters.
Taking to X at the time, one user wrote: ‘Anyone else get irrationally annoyed by WhatsApp’s latest iOS update where, if someone is online, it’s now with a capital “O” (Online), or when someone is typing, it’s a capital “T” (Typing).
Others have welcomed the change, including one user who tweeted: ‘I like the new WhatsApp typing indicator’
‘WhatsApp finally removed the ‘typing’ notification from the top and brought it downwards to where it belongs,’ one user tweeted
‘Only a capital letter different, but I hate it so much.’
Another added: ‘Anyone else really, admittedly irrationally, hate WhatsApp for added a capital letter at the beginning of Online and Typing?’
And one vented: ‘Anyone else notice WhatsApp have changed the typing and online part at the top and made it a capital letter?!
‘Making my eye twitch.’
MailOnline has contacted WhatsApp for comment.
