Facebook tests WhatsApp shortcut in its app

Facebook appears to be testing a new feature which will allow the users to launch WhatsApp directly from its app.

A dedicated WhatsApp button showed up in the Facebook app of some users on the Android platform, which acted like a shortcut to open the chat app, The Next Web reported late on Friday.

The new button, which can be found in the menu area of the app, is currently available to a few users on the Android version of the app, but might be available to some iOS users too.

There has not been any formal announcement by the social media giant and it is unclear whether it will become available to all Facebook users.

The feature was first reported by Facebook user Arvind Iyer, who said the new shortcut appeared after he switched the app's language setting to Danish.

The company has previously chosen Denmark for other limited rollouts like its standalone video-sharing app "Bonfire", the report added.

Facebook is also working on a new feature called "Instant Videos" that downloads Facebook videos while connected with Wi-Fi to help the users save their data.

The "Instant Videos" would be similar to Facebook's hosted content format -- "Instant Articles" that loads faster than mobile websites.

--IANS

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