Sign In
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: WhatsApp is moving in the right direction of making group conversations friendly to new members. The communication tool has begun to experiment with a new feature, which enables the recent group chat history to be shared with individuals who recently joined a group. The capability is being launched to some of the beta participants on Android, and it shows that WhatsApp is on the brink of expanding further.
This feature has been present in the development stages, but it is now in a live state among a few users on the WhatsApp beta Android version 2.26.1.28 through the Google Play Store. Through this update, WhatsApp will address a long-standing issue that has seen new group members mostly joining the group without any background.
Users can now have a cursory view of the recent chat history when adding a new member to a group. WhatsApp will automatically send a small portion of the recent messages to the new participant once activated. This enables new entrants to recognise the current discourse without the requirement of having other people clarify the past discourse.
The unified past is centred on recent activity. WhatsApp also contains messages within the past 14 days and has a max capacity of 100 messages. Only those messages are shared in case fewer messages were sent at that time. Messages older than 14 days are not included, as they would clutter.
Users are able to view the number of messages to be shared precisely before validating the action. It is possible to preview the process during the addition of a new member but not finalise the addition. This provides the users with the transparency and control of the information shared.
Messages sent using this feature have different colours when sent to new members. This simplifies the process of dissociating the past with the present. When new messages are posted in a group, this is also notified to all the group members, and applicable timestamps are also displayed.
The default value of the feature is off. Every time a user adds a person to a group, he or she has to activate it manually. To increase the safety, WhatsApp displays a confirmation message within the first three times of using the feature, which minimises the chances of sharing something unintentionally.
End-to-end encryption is also preserved. Messages are re-encrypted when there are new members, in which a new member will only comprehend the message. WhatsApp ensures that sensitive information remains safe during the process.
Currently, the most current history-sharing option can be implemented by a few beta testers on Android. It is progressive in its implementation by WhatsApp, which tracks its implementation and user reviews. After testing, the new feature will be accessible to more people, and new members of the group will find it easier to reach out and contribute to conversations with no apprehension.
