#Wechat video calls update#

The reason for the change from English to pinyin may have to do with a recent national policy on the issue – the same policy that’s seen “Station” replaced with “Zhan” on the Beijing Subway, as well as some reimagined hotel names around the capital – aimed at replacing English with pinyin across the board.

This latest one might have been hard to notice at first, as it’s easy to take for granted, not to mention both still keep the “We” in the name. Now no more having to explain to your family why your apartment is such a mess… or to avoid any other situations that might require explaining. Similar to a feature on Zoom, this allows you to blur out what’s behind you so the person you’re calling won’t see. Other names in the Tencent stable include QQ Messenger and Tencent Music. WeChat was developed by and belongs to Chinese tech behemoth Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in the world. As the name suggests, it originally functioned as a simple messenger app, a Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp in essence. What’s this mean? No more having to exit WeChat just to find this song you really want to send a friend but it’ll take time and they’ll get distracted and… ah damn now they’re busy and won’t hear the song… Blur background videos on calls WeChat was launched in 2011 as Weixin, Mandarin for ‘micro-message’. Even though it’s only linked to QQ Music (understandable considering Tencent owns QQ) the feature allows you to search for and send a song or two while you’re still in WeChat.

#Wechat video calls update#

New options for sending things to people have come along with the update as well – like the option to send music directly via WeChat. The second section, “List of Information Shared with Third Parties,” is basically a rundown of how your information can and may be shared with enterprises outside WeChat (there’s even been a privacy agreement added before you click on certain WeChat features to enable them, now). In a section titled “List of Collected Personal Information” you can find your basic user information, device information, usage info, and (perhaps more unsettling, even with how tech can track us as is) location info.

Privacy settings are undergoing a robust revamp, featuring not only a variety of ways for you to choose how and where people can add you – and what they can see once they’ve added you – but a ton of information on users as well. It’s not a super functional video editor, but it’s quick and simple and provides you with another option for sharing images. You can then set it to music and choose from some limited background effects. Simply initiate the upload of images as you would normally do and you will see an option to “Create Video” at the base of the screen. Up to 20 of your still images can now be instantly combined and set to music via the Moments function. Here’s a wrap-up of some of the new features you’re likely to discover (note: the following features were spotted in iOS Version 8.0.18). WeChat has been busy with updates over the last couple of weeks, just in time for you to spend CNY playing with them. Cut the chit-chat and gather around to learn the latest about everyone's favorite super-app in our ongoing column, What's New WeChat.