Last week, WhatsApp rolled out a slew of upgrades to improve the messaging app’s group chat experience. Some changes, like the ability to permanently pin a message for all in the chat, are handier than others. Some features… could just be a thinly-veiled excuse to get more eyes on ads, which are relegated to the Status and Channels page.
Oiling the group chat machine
Up first is a feature that’s building on the app’s ‘message history’ feature that launched earlier this year. The idea was to get group chat newbies up to speed by sending them the group chat’s message history when they joined. Now, admins can retroactively catch them up on the group chat’s lore by simply tapping on their name.
Instead of setting an expiration date for pinned messages, the latest change allows pinned messages to stick around forever. Messages can just as easily be unpinned when the message is no longer relevant.
Read More: WhatsApp’s long-awaited scheduled messages feature is nearly ready
We didn’t say they’d all be winners. WhatsApp’s new filter, for instance, might be useful to someone, but for many, it’s just another feature to ignore. Instead of filtering your contacts in some custom way, the app now allows users to show every unread group chat where they were either mentioned or received a direct reply.
Lastly, there’s what WhatsApp is calling a group status. These are hardly any different from a regular status update — the main difference being who can see it. Fittingly, only group members can see a group status, all of whom can react as they would any other status. The cynic among us is screaming that this is just another excuse to get users visiting the Status and Channels page more often, where Meta’s ads can be found. We’re inclined to listen.
