WhatsApp tries an option to search for stores through our location

Beyond the messaging functionalities themselves, we have recently seen how part of Meta’s ambitious plans has been reflected in WhatsApp.

And it is that in addition to the already ongoing implementation of an integrated purchasing and payment system, it seems that the messaging application is now testing the possibility of including an option to search for establishments through our location.

This has been shared by WABetaInfo, who have detected this function in the latest test version of the application. Under the name of “Businesses Nearby,” thanks to the screenshots shared by this website, we can take a preliminary look at this function’s interface and essential operation.

From now on, in the search field of the main menu of the application, we will not only be able to navigate between contents such as files, photos, or links, but this particular section will be added that will show us all kinds of shops, restaurants or service stations, and all sorts of nearby businesses based on our location.

But not only that. We can access the files of these businesses and even contact some of them directly through the messaging application itself.

As the company tends to do, this functionality was previously tested with a directory of stores in São Paulo, Brazil. Something that could indicate that the function would be more advanced than we might believe, arriving among the first WhatsApp updates next year.

In the same way, although we still do not have official details, everything indicates that this function will be available in both Android and iOS mobile applications, without knowing its possible future implementation in WhatsApp Web.