WhatsApp wants to bring Meta AI to your home screen
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WhatsApp is developing a new home screen widget for Android that provides direct access to Meta AI, making it easier for users to engage with the AI assistant.
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The 4x1 widget will feature two main functions: tapping the text area will open a chat with Meta AI, while tapping the camera icon will instantly capture and share a photo with the AI for analysis or other tasks.
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This new widget aims to improve convenience by eliminating the need to open the WhatsApp app and navigate to the AI chat.
Meta-owned WhatsApp continues to exert its dominance in the messaging platform market, with over 2 billion people using the service on a monthly basis. Like every other tech company's services and products in the last two years, WhatsApp too has gained several AI-enabled features — primarily powered by Meta AI .
Meta AI within WhatsApp gives users access to a Llama 3.1-based chatbot, a Gemini Live-like conversational mode, quick translations, summarization, and even image generation. The AI tool is available on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. However, according to a recent The Information report quoting sources with access to internal data, most of the users that access Meta AI daily do so via WhatsApp.
Now, in a bid to make it easier for users to access the AI tool, WhatsApp seems to be working on a dedicated Meta AI widget that can be added to your Android device's home screen. The new widget was first spotted by folks over at WABetaInfo in WhatsApp beta 2.25.1.27 . For what it's worth, even with the beta build installed, the new widget isn't available to me yet. Your mileage with it, too, may vary.
Tap to chat + tap to snap
As seen in the screenshot above, the widget appears to be locked to a 4x1 grid. It will be available alongside the existing 3x2, 1x1, and 1x1 WhatsApp widgets. Tapping the widget's text field will automatically trigger a WhatsApp chat with Meta AI, while tapping the accompanying camera icon will allow users to quickly capture and share a photo with the AI assistant. It's worth noting that the widget will be limited to countries with access to Meta AI.
For what it's worth, users can already use an existing WhatsApp widget to trigger Meta AI, although it doesn't look as advanced as the dedicated Meta AI widget WhatsApp is working on, and doesn't feature a camera shortcut. Follow the steps below if you want to add a temporary Meta AI shortcut until the full-fledged one rolls out to you.
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Long tap on your Android device's home screen.
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Tap on the widgetssection and search for WhatsApp.
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Select the 1x1 WhatsApp contact widgetand tap Add.
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Select Meta AIas the desired contact for the widget.
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A 1x1 WhatsApp widget with the Meta AI logo should appear on your home screen.
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Tap on the widget to trigger a Meta AI chat.
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