WhatsApp starts testing skin tone for reactions in beta – Times of India

Alongside the new edit text messages feature, WhatsApp has also started testing skin tone for emoji reactions in beta. The skin tone for reactions is a part of the recently launched emoji reactions where the platform will allow users to choose the skin tone for a particular reaction, according to WABetaInfo.
The new skin tone for reactions is currently being rolled out to a select number of beta testers and as per the report, users can now choose the skin tone for Folded Hands and Thumbs Up emoji.
As per the report from WABetaInfo, the emoji reactions will automatically pick the last skin tone used by the user for both the emojis from the main section. This means, to change the skin tone of an emoji reaction, users will first need to use that skin tone in one of the chats from the main emoji section. For instance, if you’ve used the light colour tone for Folded hands in the chat, the emoji reactions will automatically change to a light colour tone. The same applies to the Thumbs Up emoji.
We don’t know if that’s the only way to change the skin tone for reactions. It will be a good option if WhatsApp chooses to make it a separate setting to allow users to choose the skin tone of their choice permanently for emoji reactions.
As mentioned, the feature is currently in beta and we currently have no official timeline by when it will be available in the stable release of the app and web.