When you’re standing next to a friend who says something funny, you can just laugh. You don’t need to pause and say “I found what you just said humorous” or quote their own words back to them before displaying a real-world emoji on your face. This feeling of immediacy and effortless response is what reactions are all about. They’re a quick way to share your take on any message, and you can try them today in the latest Signal beta.

React without overreacting

In addition to enabling fast responses within one-on-one conversations, reactions also improve the group experience. If you’ve ever been hesitant to light up a bunch of phones and make 30 people in the bowling league check their pockets, those days are over. Now you can send someone a ❤️ without making yours skip a beat.

Group participants will see each other’s reactions the next time they open the conversation, but reaction notifications are only sent to the original author. Your phone will still go crazy if you say something incredible. The other bowlers will be spared so they can focus on their strikes.

Be proactive (and reactive)

Joining the Signal beta gives you early access to reactions and other upcoming features. However, this lifestyle isn’t for everyone. In order to deliver a stable messaging experience, we need a few brave souls who are willing to be the first to encounter new and obscure bugs.

If 😡 is your default reaction, a little bit of patience might be a good idea. This feature will start rolling out to production users soon. We hope that you enjoy it!