WhatsApp voice notes are getting BIG change after surprise app update revealed

WHATSAPP is working on a big change to the app – and it affects voice notes.

Details of an upcoming update have been leaked online.

New evidence suggests WhatsApp will let you upload voice notes as status updates.

That means you can share short voice notes with any of your contacts en masse.

It was revealed by the app sleuths at who mine the "beta" version of WhatsApp for new features.

This new trick was found "under development" in the Android beta app.

"When you want to post a voice status update, you can also choose a background color for the voice note and it shows up as a message bubble," WABetaInfo explained.

"In addition, the voice note is automatically played every time you open a voice status update, it is protected by end-to-end encryption.

"And it is possible to upload a voice note for up to 30 seconds."

Sadly it's impossible to say exactly when this feature will roll out.

As it's still under development, it could take days, weeks or even months to arrive on the general version of WhatsApp.

If you want to try new features first, consider following our guide to join the beta below – or scroll down further for another WhatsApp voice trick.

How to join the WhatsApp beta

To download WhatsApp beta for your smartphone you need to go to Google Play on your  and search for WhatsApp.

Scroll down the page until you see "Become a Beta Tester".

Tap the "I'm In" button and then click "Join" to confirm.

Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.

Joining the WhatsApp beta on iPhone is more difficult, and has limited capacity.

Follow Apple’s guide .

Simple voice note trick

A recent addition to WhatsApp is the ability to pause voice note recording.

It launched on the app earlier this year, and is proving very popular.

First, make sure you've updated to the latest version of WhatsApp.

You can do this through the Apple App Store on iPhone or in the Google Play Store on Android.

Then close and relaunch WhatsApp to make sure you're using the newest version.

Now open up a chat – it doesn't matter if it's an individual or group conversation.

Tap and hold on the voice record feature, then draw upwards to lock it in to "hands free" mode.

Now you'll see that a pause icon has appeared in the bottom-centre of the screen.

You can tap this to pause the recording.

It's even possible to leave the conversation and the app while keeping the recording paused.

And then you can come back to it later and continue.

This is great if you're recording a long message but get interrupted, or need to find out more information.

Or maybe you've simply forgotten what you wanted to say, and need some time to remember.

Whatever the case, it's very easy to pause and come back to it – and the recipient won't know the difference.

The app doesn't flag to the chat when a recording has been paused.

WhatsApp also recently changed the app so that you can keep listening to voice notes even outside of a chat.

So if you start playing a voice message, you can move into another chat and it won't pause playback.

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