Groups are an important part of WhatsApp as they’re used by families and friends to stay in touch with each other and even business teams to get work done. Facebook-owned WhatsApp recognizes the importance of Groups which is why the company has announced new features for this part of its app. Some of the new features include better admin control, participant search, group catch up, and more.
Groups have a description, a short blurb under the group info in which the admin can set the purpose, guidelines, and topics for that group. That description will show up at the top of the chat when a new person joins the group. New settings will now allow admins to restrict who can change the group’s icon, subject, and description.
With Group catch up, users who have been away from a chat will be able to quickly catch up on messages that mention or reply to them by tapping on the new “@” button at the bottom right corner of the chat. With Participant search, users can find anyone in a group by searching for them on the info page.
An extra protection is now available for users as well so that they can’t be repeatedly added to groups they have left. All of these features are now live for WhatsApp users on Android and iOS today.