WhatsApp Status Gets Melodious As Meta Adds Music Feature to Chat App

WhatsApp’s counterpart to Instagram Stories is finally getting the ability to add music. The Meta-owned chat app has announced users can now add music to their WhatsApp Status, which lasts 24 hours. Users can choose from “millions of songs” and post them in a way that is loosely reminiscent of the old days of MySpace.

“Now you can add music to your WhatsApp photos from our music library,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who posted a video showing him adding “Baby Shark” to a photo of him and his wife Priscilla Chan on WhatsApp.

The announcement comes weeks after WhatsApp was spotted testing the feature to increase engagement on the app, especially with the increase in the number of Instagram Story users who add music to their posts. Facebook also has had the same feature for its Story users.

Users can start by adding a Status as usual on WhatsApp. After they have selected a photo or a video, music can be chosen using a new tool represented by a music note icon right on the top, next to other tools. Users can add music to both photos and videos in Status, while Status posts with plain text also support the music feature. WhatsApp currently supports music clips up to 15 seconds for photos and 60 seconds for videos. A clip can be used from any part of a song, letting users catch up with viral trends involving popular songs or tracks. However, options such as lyrics scroll found on Instagram, are not available on WhatsApp. Music used in Status posts will disappear along with the posts after 24 hours, the company said.

According to Meta, Status shared with music on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted so they are not visible to even WhatsApp. That means the tracks a user chooses will not be seen by WhatsApp.