WhatsApp has finally got launcher app shortcuts on Android which is still in the testing stage. These shortcuts allow you to launch a desired in-app feature by clicking on the shortcuts icons. First spotted by Android Police, the functions of the WhatsApp beta launcher app shortcuts seem redundant, though.
The App Shortcut gives you the option to launch the camera and a new chat. These however are not much useful as users are less likely to use new chat and tend to speak to people who are already on the chat screen.
Another option the launch app gives is three ‘starred’ conversations, which again seems useless as these aren’t pinned chats nor recent chats. However, these options can be dragged to your home-screen as independent shortcuts making it a little useful and convenient for users.
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Notably, WhatsApp already has the native widgets and shortcuts option for the home screen (as seen in the image above) which allows users to set the camera as a separate shortcut icon. You can also place a favorite person on the home-screen whose display picture will show up as an icon logo instead of the generic star showing up in this launcher app beta feature.
The WhatsApp launcher app shortcuts feature is available on devices running Android 7.0 Nougat while users with Android 6.0 Marshmallow can access the feature if using compatible launchers like Nova and Action.
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Although not much useful right now, we need to bear in mind that this feature is still being tested and hope for a better and polished final build. It will be good to see WhatsApp fine-tune the launcher app shortcuts and include pinned and frequent chats instead of new chats as well as show profile images instead of generic star as shortcuts.
If you want to download the latest WhatsApp beta for Android version, you can sign up for the Android Beta Program on Google Play. Alternatively, you can also download the APK Mirror here.
Via: Android Police
