The ability to display message reactions in chats was first introduced by Telegram in December, and WhatsApp just introduced it a few months later. Instagram, on the other hand, has long accepted emoji reactions. Despite being so late to the game on this, WhatsApp’s recent extension of the available emojis for reactions gave us the impression that the developers were beginning to take this seriously. A new preview for message reactions is now being tested by the Meta-owned entity right in the chat list.

Recent WhatsApp beta testers now see information on recent reactions in the chat overview (WABetaInfo suggests most are seeing it on v2.22.16.6, though it’s also visible for some on v2.22.16.5). It looks to be a gradual release, thus being on either beta version does not ensure its availability. Individual or group chats, as seen in the screenshot below, are displaying a sneak peek of the most recent message reaction from the chat list.

Oddly, even if you disable reaction notifications from the app’s settings, the feature still cannot be turned off, as WABetaInfo points out. Although message reaction previews are currently only accessible to a small number of WhatsApp beta testers, it’s probable that they will become more generally available over the following several weeks. However, it’s unclear when they will be included to WhatsApp’s stable version.

You may check to see if you already have access to this new UI if you’re a participant in the WhatsApp beta through the Google Play beta programme. Being a beta tester, however, does not ensure access to the feature, as we have stated above.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, this week announced the expansion of emoji options for message reactions across Android, iOS, and web versions of the well-known instant messaging programme, unaffected by the sluggish start for message reactions on WhatsApp.