Latest WhatsApp beta for Android update brings new Advanced Search and Protect Backup features

WhatsApp continues to add new features to make the user experience on its app better with each update. The company is reportedly working on two such new features called Advanced Search and Protect Backup.

Starting with Advanced Search, the feature is already available on iOS and is soon making its way to the Android app, according to WABetaInfo. WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.20.117 includes details of the Advanced Search feature which allows users to search for media shared within the app. This means that one can easily find the photos, videos, GIFs, and other documents by just doing a text-based search on WhatsApp. The feature is still under development and it is unknown when it will be rolled out to the public.

The second major feature which is a part of the WhatsApp beta update is Protect Backup. The feature lets users take a back up of their WhatsApp chat and other data to Google Drive using a passcode. Currently, WhatsApp does allow users to take a back up of their chats to Google Drive but without any password protection. The feature will act as an additional layer of security and reduces the risk of loss of data when hacked. WABetaInfo further notes that the password is not stored on WhatsApp or Facebook’s servers, so if you forget your password, you cannot recover the chat history from the backup.

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