WhatsApp introduces a new font for iOS and Android users

WhatsApp is on a roll ever since it introduced the official beta testing channel to Google Play store. The speed with which the updates are rolled out is staggering. Even though most of the updates are under the hood changes with hidden features. The hidden features include a lot of features that are introduced for internal testing but not ready for prime time usage. This was initially reported by WABetaInfo on twitter through their official handle.

The FixedSys font is now enabled for iOS and Android users!
Send this to your WhatsApp friends! ---> ```Hello, this is the new font!```

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) July 15, 2016

One of these features was the ‘FixedSys font’ which is rolling out for users. The font was present in the code as a hidden feature and now seems to be stable for a wider roll out to the beta users. There are other updates like GIF support, video calling, user mention in chat and mentioning people who are not on WhatsApp. All these features are in the code for internal testing and will roll out gradually.  The new font goes to add to the recently introduced font formats including bold, italics and strikethrough. All these formats give around 15 new unique formatting options to  users. This will enable the users to communicate more clearly with options to emphasise the important and to simply introduce variation during conversations. To use all the formats use the following symbols at the start and end of your message. Bold= * Italics= _ Strikethrough= ~ New Font=``` This feature roll out for beta users comes right after WhatsApp decided to pull support for BlackBerry and Symbian devices.