WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app on the planet ...but the Meta-owned app now hopes to become your go-to Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant. Whether you want a quick summary of a dense PDF or some help with a complex spreadsheet, WhatsApp could soon let you drop these documents into the chat for help.
The feature isn't available yet, but the keen-sighted team at WABetaInfo clocked that the messaging service is bringing a handy new trick to iOS and Android users – the ability to send documents straight to Meta AI for analysis.
If you're not familiar, Meta AI on WhatsApp is an integrated chatbot assistant that lets you ask questions, generate ideas, get recommendations, summarise information, and create content directly within the app. Powered by Meta’s AI tech, it can be accessed in personal chats like WhatsApp, group conversations, or through its standalone AI app.
Until now, Meta AI on WhatsApp was only compatible with photos and videos, which meant you'd have to screenshot documents or type out their contents manually to answer queries and get more information.
The upcoming update appears to change that, though, letting you upload files directly for the AI to examine. It works through the familiar attachment menu you already use to share files in chats and groups.
Meta AI on WhatsApp is an integrated chatbot assistant that lets you ask questions, generate ideas, get recommendations, summarise information, and create content directly within the app
|Rather than fiddling about copying and pasting chunks of text or trying to describe what's in a document, you can share the file and let Meta AI do the heavy lifting.
The assistant can then look at everything in context and give you more relevant answers. This could be ideal if you have a tricky problem buried deep in your document.
For now, only a select group of beta testers can try it out to iron out any kinks before a wider release, though WABetaInfo reports that some users might even find it in the standard App Store version.
However, this specific feature isn't new to other AI chatbots. Rivals like ChatGPT and Gemini have offered document handling as standard, making them a go-to choice for anyone needing to work with files. Gemini and ChatGPT can even produce PDF documents ready for download.
This new document-sharing feature could be Meta's way of closing that gap and making its assistant genuinely useful for work and personal tasks alike.
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It's not the only new feature WhatsApp has been spotted working on, either.
WABetaInfo has also seen WhatsApp testing a new "After Reading" timing option for disappearing messages on iPhone. It comes after the same team already spotted a version of this feature being trialled on Android.
Instead of your messages vanishing after a timer has expired after you hit send, these messages will only start their countdown once the person you're chatting with actually opens and reads them. It's a handy twist on the existing self-destructing messages system that's been around for a while.
WhatsApp first introduced this concept to Android users back in 2020, with iPhone users not being treated to the same feature until nearly a year later.