WhatsApp rolling out new document uploader in Android app

WhatsApp has started rolling out a new document uploading feature to its Android app users. This new attachment option has been showing up for a number of WhatsApp users (including myself) and allows you to upload PDFs. It’d be surprising if this wasn’t expanded to include other document formats in the future.

Before this testing started, WhatsApp had six attachment options that included Gallery, Photo, Video, Audio, Location and Contact. The new layout combines Photo and Video in to a single Camera option, includes Documents, and keeps the rest as they were.

Android Police first noticed the change, and notes that once documents are uploaded, they show up in the media history page along with the rest of your shared media. What’s more, you can toggle whether you want to download documents over Wi-Fi only, cellular network, and if you want it to download media while roaming.

There are some other barely noticeable changes like the refreshed contact or group info screen. The options cards now fill the entire width of the screen, rather than be surrounded by gray backdrop.

All evidence suggests this is a server-side roll out and so doesn’t necessarily depend on which version of the app you have installed. That said, you have a better chance of seeing it if you download the APK directly for the latest beta version, or if you have the most recent update installed from the Play Store.