WhatsApp, the popular messaging application owned by Meta, has announced a new feature for Android users designed to improve the group chat experience. The update allows new members joining a group to access the recent history of conversations, providing valuable context and facilitating smoother integration.
This enhancement grants new participants the ability to view messages from the previous 24 hours. This ensures that newcomers can quickly understand ongoing discussions and contribute more effectively while maintaining the platform’s commitment to secure, end-to-end encrypted communication.
The feature gives group administrators the option to share the recent chat history with newly added members. Upon joining via an invitation link or manual addition by an admin, new users can immediately see the recent messages within the group. Importantly, this functionality is optional and requires admin activation.
Currently, new members joining existing groups typically have no visibility into past conversations. This update addresses that limitation by providing a window into the group’s recent activity. WhatsApp is initially limiting the accessible history to the past 24 hours, but there is potential for this duration to be adjusted in future iterations.
WhatsApp is also considering a limit of 1000 recent messages that can be shared within the 24-hour window. This measure aims to manage the volume of information shared in highly active groups that generate hundreds of messages daily. The enhanced feature promises to improve the onboarding experience for new group members while upholding WhatsApp’s focus on user privacy and security.
This feature is currently rolling out in beta.
