Last Friday, WhatsApp released an update for the iPhone app giving it a list of new features including some visual improvement and most notably the ability for Siri to read out your message loud.
The latest update WhatsApp (v2.17.2) is now available to anyone on iOS for download or upgrade from the App Store. That means iPhone users can ask Siri to read out their latest WhatsApp messages when they want a more hands-free experience with the app.
Other improvements that came with the update includes visual changes to the Calls tab, Contact info, and Group info screen. Users can now also select multiple statuses at once in the My Updates screen. The update also added support for the Persian language.
Already, you could compose a new message on WhatsApp using Siri. The update now takes Siri a step further to read out to you new messages you get on the messaging app. Something drivers would find more useful when you behind the wheel speeding on the freeway.
This function is only limited to new unread messages on the app; if you do not have any unread messages on WhatsApp, Siri will not read out loud your messages. To prompt Siri to read your WhatsApp message, you could say something like
“Hey Siri, read my last WhatsApp message.”
Siri in her usual robotic sound will read out loud the message for you and at the end will ask if you would like to compose a reply message. At this point, if you chose to reply, you simply need to dictate the message to Siri, and she will write it down and reply to the message it read out to you.
You should know that once Siri has read out a message to you, it won’t be able to read it a second time. So it is probably best you pay close attention to Siri the first time is reading out your WhatsApp message.
