WhatsApp update to let people watch Netflix videos inside app

Feature already works with YouTube and Instagram

WhatsApp has started letting people watch Netflix videos within the app.

In the latest update to WhatsApp's picture-in-picture feature – which allows people to watch videos or preview links while staying inside the app – Netflix trailers will load up as previews.

It means that people will be able to send trailers for Netflix shows to each other, and discuss them, all from the same app and at the same time.

Netflix is far from the first video service to be implemented inside of WhatsApp, with videos from Instagram, YouTube and many more showing in the same way. The company regularly updates the app with new integrated services.

But Netflix is perhaps the strangest yet, given few people presumably share or want to watch those videos within the app.

The feature seems to be limited to trailers, at least for the time being, rather than full-length shows.

It is also limited only to the iPhone version of WhatsApp. In the past, other streaming services have been added to all the different versions of the app, and the iOS app often gets features that are then rolled out to other platforms.

Sharing Netflix trailers is as simple as sharing other videos. It is done by just sharing a link to a trailer – doing so will bring up a big thumbnail that is covered by a play icon, and pressing play will bring up the video within WhatsApp.

The feature was first spotted by rumour roundup website WABetaInfo, who was informed about the update by a reader.