WhatsApp may not be the best at syncing call logs, but it is one of the most popular encrypted messaging services. It picked up ephemeral media-sharing features from the likes of Snapchat and other Meta-owned companies years ago. Options include disappearing messages, view-once media, and status updates shared with your contact list. However, people have been rather limited in the kinds of media they can share as status updates. WhatsApp is now one step closer to allowing users to share voice messages as status updates.

WhatsApp has been working on the voice message status feature for a while — early signs showed up in July 2022. Now, the messaging service is rolling out the feature to a handful of testers via the latest beta update on the Google Play Store. WABetaInfo took the feature for a spin, discovering that you can send voice notes from the same section you use to send text statuses. The send button transforms into a mic button which you can press and hold to record a message, much like sending voice messages in a regular WhatsApp chat.

Like all status updates, WhatsApp will share these voice notes with everyone you've allowed to see your regular photo/video status updates. They are end-to-end encrypted like all other status updates and will stay online for 24 hours unless deleted manually before that. Recordings cannot exceed the 30-second time limit, but you can cancel one and start afresh if you must. However, remember that your contacts cannot hear your status update if they're using an older version of WhatsApp.

While it may not seem like a significant feature at first, it sure beats spending a few minutes in a video editing app layering your recording on a set of related visuals. It is also much easier than sending a recorded message to multiple contacts. We aren't seeing this feature on any of our devices running the WhatsApp beta yet, typical of a slower phased rollout or an A/B beta test. This feature has been in development for close to a year, but WhatsApp hasn't detailed when we might see it in the stable channel. So, there could be more changes to its operation before a worldwide release.