Key Takeaways
- A new WhatsApp beta improves on a previously spotted link/URL verification feature.
- Users will be able to verify any link they send or receive on WhatsApp with the help of Google Search for enhanced safety.
- Although the feature is still in beta testing, it should eventually be available to all WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp is undoubtedly one of the most popular messaging apps today. The Meta-owned app offers several safety tools to safeguard its users, such as automatic spam detection and timely security alerts. Around a month ago, we came across a beta version of the app featuring a new option to verify links/URLs in messages through Google Search. Thanks to a recent beta of WhatsApp for Android, we are now seeing this functionality undergoing some minor changes ahead of its imminent arrival.
Related
WhatsApp gets better video playback, but there is a big catch
Android users will have to wait
As per WABetaInfo’s reporting, this “link info” page is now making it to beta testers as part of WhatsApp beta version 2.24.22.19. I’m seeing this particular change on my device as well, indicating that it’s broadly available to beta testers. While trying to replicate the feature, I discovered that the feature now works on practically any link and not just the ones that have been forwarded too frequently.
Users simply need to long press any link they receive (or send) in WhatsApp for the Get link info on Google option to appear, listed below Copy link and Open link, as shown in the first screenshot above. Tapping Get link info on Google redirects users to the Google app’s search experience with all the relevant details about the selected URL.
A useful inclusion to keep you safe from suspicious links
When the feature was first discovered by WABetaInfo last month, it was found that the Search on web option would appear above frequently forwarded messages. Tapping this option would give you details on what it does, followed by options like Get info about link and Search for text.
But based on my brief experience with version 2.24.22.19 of WhatsApp beta, this safety feature should now work on every URL on the internet. It’s unclear if the older Search on Web option will continue to coexist alongside this new behavior to verify any link in WhatsApp, but there’s no reason why they can’t, given that they serve different purposes.
Since the updated link verification system is still in beta, it’s hard to come up with a timeline for its appearance in the stable version of WhatsApp. But given the importance of a feature like this, we would be very surprised if it didn’t become widely available to all WhatsApp users eventually, unlike some other features that lurk around in the beta channel but never make it to stable.
