While one-on-one messaging is still a huge reason why people use WhatsApp, there is also a growing number of users who use it to join and participate in various group conversations. Groups are there for support for various life stages, study sessions for students, brands using it to promote their products, etc. The Facebook-owned messaging app is now bringing new features to group chats and this includes better admin controls and better ways of catching up on missed conversations (coz we all know how crazy groups can get).
Groups now get a short blurb description so people know what they’re getting into. You’ll find the blurb at the top of a chat that you’ve recently joined. Admins also now have better control over their group/groups as they can restrict which members can change the subject, icon, and description of the group. You can also remove admin permissions of other members of the group but if you’re a group creator, you cannot be removed from that group you started.
If you’ve been away from WhatsApp for some time, catching up on your group chats can be difficult. If you don’t have time to go through all the ten million messages that you missed, you can tap on the @ button on the bottom right corner and you’ll see all the messages that reply to you or mention you. Members can also now search for members or participants in the group in the info page. If you’ve been leaving groups but people still add you back, you’ll be glad to know there’s now protection against that.
These new group features can be used once you’ve updated to the latest version of WhatsApp for Android.
SOURCE: WhatsApp
