WhatsApp Just Announced Four New Features, Including a Huge Upgrade for CarPlay and Android Auto
Samsung might have just announced a bunch of new products during its July Unpacked event, but that’s not stopping WhatsApp from trying to steal headlines. As Samsung was unveiling the latest Galaxy Z devices, WhatsApp announced four new features that users on both Android and iOS can take advantage of right now. Here’s what’s new:
WhatsApp finally works as it should in CarPlay and Android Auto
The goal of CarPlay and Android Auto is to make smartphone apps safe to use while on the road. You shouldn’t text and drive, but if you can hear messages and respond to them with your voice while keeping your attention where it should be, that’s a win-win. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case with WhatsApp’s previous experience in the car: You could send new messages and place WhatsApp calls, but that’s it, and that made WhatsApp a much more limiting experience than other car chat apps.
According to WhatsApp, that’s no longer the case. The latest update overhauls the experience, finally letting you listen to and respond to your messages. In addition to placing calls, you can see your call history, so you can check whether you missed a call from somebody. You can also access your list of favorite contacts, which should make it easier to start quick calls and messages to the friends and family you talk with most often.
WhatsApp gets an improved PDF experience on web and desktop
With this update, you can now open PDFs directly in WhatsApp on the web or in the desktop app without downloading them first. What’s more, you can edit those PDFs after opening them, including highlighting and annotating, while remaining in the app. WhatsApp says you can view and edit these PDFs via Adobe Acrobat, putting WhatsApp in the running against other lightweight and free PDF apps on the market.
Share Apple Music and Spotify tracks directly to WhatsApp
If you’re listening to a song you really like on Apple Music or Spotify, you can share it across many different social media apps, and that now includes WhatsApp, too. The company says you can share tracks from these music apps to your WhatsApp Status, which, presumably, will let your friends and family check out the song themselves in Apple Music or Spotify.
Sign up for a WhatsApp account from your iPad
It took a while, but WhatsApp finally got an iPad app in May of 2025. Now, over a year later, WhatsApp is letting users create an account directly from WhatsApp on iPad, without needing to tie the account to a phone number. If you or someone you know uses an iPad as their main device, this should be some welcome news.
