WeChat is again welcoming a heavy update, and voice messages can be paused

Wen | Zhao Yutong, author of the weekly magazine "Finance and Economics"

Edit | Song Han

The new version supports pause and resume playback of voice messages

On January 15, both the WeChat iOS and Android versions ushered in updates, which is also its first update in 2022, nearly three months after the last update. In response to this update, WeChat did not give a more detailed introduction, only mentioned that "some known issues have been solved". However, every time WeChat is improved in function, it can be glimpsed in the process of use.

Photo/Visual China

For the iOS version, perhaps the biggest change is that the 8.0.17 version begins to support the pause and resume of voice messages. That is, a longer voice message, if interrupted during listening, does not have to start all over again, but can continue playing at the current time node. Although some users prefer to add a voice message progress bar function, at least for now, this is actually a step forward in practicality.

Not only that, the iOS version also adds a chat picture search function, after opening, users can enter image descriptions or image Chinese words to retrieve, through the picture information to search for pictures in the chat. Users can search by entering image descriptions or text from diagrams in the search box.

The Android update version complements the previous update of the iOS version - the "Write while Translating" function is finally synchronized, supporting Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English, Japanese and other languages. In addition, WeChat has upgraded its privacy protection in the updated versions of iOS and Android, from friend permissions, personal information and permissions to personal information collection lists and third-party information sharing lists, and even added customer service phones at the bottom of the "About WeChat" page, which is more detailed and detailed.

As the product that took the lead in the 2022 WeChat open class speech, the video number also has some changes, such as whether it is a video number playback or a live video number, you can choose to play under the floating window, and the iOS version update also has an option setting for whether to accept new messages when watching the video number to improve the user experience. In addition, there are netizens feedback that in the Update of the Official Version of The Windows version of WeChat 3.5.0, a new video number entrance has been added, and this part of the user who has received the update notification can try to watch the video number content on the computer.

WeChat changes

To some extent, the weChat super app is becoming bigger and bigger – this is the case in terms of user size, and it is also true of product changes. Taking the iOS version as an example, in the past 2021, WeChat has carried out 13 iterative upgrades, an average of 1 per month, which includes new functions, experience optimization, and also involves business-level changes and adjustments in the context of "interconnection".

From a social point of view, WeChat launched the "WeChat Status", adding intuitive dynamic effects to expressions such as "bombs" and "fireworks", and improving the launch of custom expressions, combining the display of the circle of friends with voice dialing... This is not only WeChat's user experience-based exploration, but also a means to further revitalize traffic and improve its social efficiency on the basis of the 1.26 billion monthly active users.

In Zhang Xiaolong's product view, all the designs on WeChat are user-oriented. But he also said that if users do what they say and do, and retain users in this way, "we will also be exhausted." In his opinion, user feedback only helps product managers understand their ideas, their needs are fragmented, and by extension, he feels, "Most of the features we used to do can be cut."

But WeChat is no longer the original WeChat. For Tencent, WeChat once represented the traffic in the two major killers of "capital and traffic", and the significance it carries is to provide living water for the "allies" that Tencent has made in the past - traffic is an opportunity, even a small entrance, may bring about huge changes, some star enterprises in the consumer Internet industry are thriving in the fertile soil of WeChat, and gradually become towering trees.

At the same time, WeChat Pay, Mini Programs, etc. have also become an effective tool for the digital operation of merchants, Tencent mentioned in the third quarter of 2021 financial report that more and more transaction-driven advertisers, such as grocers and e-commerce merchants, use Mini Programs as advertising landing pages to improve sales conversion, which also helps Tencent's advertising revenue growth to a certain extent.

On the other hand, with the landing of "interconnection", the door of WeChat is opened, and more and more commercial forms will enter this traffic reservoir, which is bound to have a certain impact on the original ecology of WeChat.

Nowadays, WeChat pays more and more attention to the layout of consumption scenarios such as e-commerce, emphasizes the conversion of public and private domain traffic, and hopes to continue to create new value for users, developers, creators and partners. The user basic disk is the basis of all this, although in the update again and again, WeChat seems to be no longer so concise, direct and clear, but what can be seen is that the changes in WeChat also include its new thinking about its own future.

This article is originally produced by AI Finance and Economics, an account of Caijing Tianxia Weekly, without permission, please do not reprint it on any channel or platform. Violators will be prosecuted.