WhatsApp Has Added Five New Features for Group Chats, Including the @All Feature.
On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced a number of new features and changes for its app. But unlike typical feature updates, these changes are specific to group chats. In total, WhatsApp has released five new updates for your groups, one of which will make it much easier to engage your entire chat. Here’s what’s new:
WhatsApp finally has the “@all” feature.
If you’ve ever used Slack, Google Chat, or any other messaging platform with the “@all” feature, you know how useful (and potentially annoying) it can be. By typing “@all” in your message, you can notify all members of a group chat about your message. This is especially useful for urgent messages, as it eliminates the need to tag each group member individually.
Of course, the “@all” feature can be overused and abused. No one wants to receive unnecessary notifications, but this feature increases the risk of being bothered by people who haven’t carefully considered their use of “@all”—especially considering that it disrupts muted group chats. Fortunately, there’s a notification setting that allows you to disable even “@all” notifications—though keep in mind that you’ll miss all those notifications later. While “@all” is available to all group chat participants, WhatsApp notes that this feature is restricted to admins in groups with more than 32 members.
WhatsApp group polls have three new features.
Polls are something I don’t use enough in my chat apps. They’re a great way to get your group’s opinion on a variety of topics, from where to go for dinner to what movie everyone should see. Now, WhatsApp says it’s making polls “even more useful” with three new changes:
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You can now set an end time for surveys so users have a deadline to respond.
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If a survey is particularly sensitive, respondents’ names may be hidden to allow people to vote more freely.
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Finally, you can edit your survey questions within 15 minutes of posting if you made a mistake or need to make the question clearer.
You can create new WhatsApp group chats from existing groups.
The next time you need to create a small group chat with members of an existing group, you won’t have to create one from scratch. Instead, you can create new group chats from your existing groups, making it much easier to split up. WhatsApp touts this as a great way to “plan a surprise party” or “coordinate event logistics,” but we all know it will be used, shall we say, in a less-than-polite manner . Yes, the ability to create a side chat from the main one will be used for discreet barbs. (I imagine the first message in such group chats will be, “Oh my god, can you believe they just said that?”)