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A new WhatsApp update will make changing fonts much easier with a floating toolbar.

Users will be able to select the text to change and then add the effect which will be automatically applied.

Last year the Facebook-owned app allowed users to add certain characters before and after the words or sentences to make them go bold, italic or with a line through the centre, known as a strikethrough.

However, many people were unaware of the change and so the formatting options were rarely used.

The new feature is currently in WhatsApp 2.17.148 beta testing on Android but will likely come to the iPhone in the future.

In order to change the text users will be able to tap the overflow button and the changes will be applied automatically.

This will make formatting options much more accessible to users.  

WhatsApp has not revealed when the new features will be released.

Currently, to make text appear bold, users can type an asterisk before and after the word like this: *MailOnline*.

To make text appear italicised, the underscore character needs to be typed before and after the word.

To strikethrough a word, type the tilde character before and after.

Along with this update WhatsApp are also testing an emoji search option which allows users to find an emoji based on a word or character search.

This means users can search using key terms rather than flicking through all the emoji.