WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform owned by Meta, has announced a new feature designed to improve the group chat experience for new members. The update, currently being rolled out in beta for Android users, allows new participants to access the recent history of group conversations.
This feature enables new members joining a group to quickly catch up on the context of ongoing discussions by accessing the previous 24 hours of messages. This ensures a smoother onboarding process and facilitates immediate engagement within the group. According to WhatsApp, this update maintains the platform’s commitment to secure and encrypted communications.
The new functionality gives group administrators the option to share recent chat history with new members upon joining. This means that when a user joins a group via an invitation link or is added manually by an admin, they can immediately view the recent messages within the group. Previously, new members were unable to see any messages prior to their joining the group.
WABetaInfo reports that the feature is limited to a specific recent period, currently set at the last 24 hours, although this timeframe may be adjusted in future versions. WhatsApp is also exploring a limit on the number of recent messages that can be shared, potentially capping it at 1000 messages within the 24-hour window. This measure is intended to address concerns regarding highly active groups that generate hundreds of messages daily.
WhatsApp emphasizes that all messages shared through this feature remain protected by end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only intended recipients can read them. This update aims to strike a balance between providing new members with valuable context and maintaining the privacy and security that WhatsApp users expect. This new feature is expected to be widely available in the coming weeks.
