WhatsApp Enhances Group Chats With Three New Features

[MacRumors]

WhatsApp announced three new group chat features today, expanding how users can interact and add context to their role within conversations involving many participants.

The Meta-owned messaging app is rolling out Member Tags, Text Stickers, and Event Reminders, all of which are designed to give group chats more flexibility and organization.

Member Tags let you assign yourself different roles in different group chats for more context – so you can be "Coach" in one thread and "Dad" in another, for example. Meanwhile, Text Stickers instantly turn typed words into sticker graphics that users can then save to custom packs.

Lastly, with Event Reminders, now when you create and send an event in your group chat you can set custom early reminders for your invitees. Meta says that "this helps everyone remember to commute to the party you're hosting or hop on the call at the right time."

The new group chat features are available to WhatsApp users worldwide, and follow other recent upgrades to the chat platform, including third-party chat support in the EU and WhatsApp for Apple Watch.

Article Link: WhatsApp Enhances Group Chats With Three New Features

 

[alexandr]

Any news on Myspace updates?

 

[DaveTheRave]

I’m surprised that Apple has let iMessage fall behind in terms of group texting. They limit groups to 32 participants. Local groups in my area (pool club, parent group at school) are using WhatsApp because it can do what Apple doesn’t yet allow. WhatsApp allows over 1,000 members.

Almost all the participants use iPhones so it’s not like WhatsApp is needed for cross platform compatibility. It’s really about managing large groups.

 

[ThomasJL]

Tim Cook is so clueless for allowing Apple to fall behind Meta in the text messaging software space. As horrible of a person that Cook is, Mark Zuckerberg is much worse, so I’d prefer to use Apple software instead of anything made by Meta.

 

[dankron]

How about ability to turn off voice messages? This is the only feature I care on WhatsApp.It should be a way to disable voice messages so people can't send you voice messages.... only text

 

[applefan8254]

Can we get an option when logging in to *not* wipe the other device(s).

Also when are usernames coming - and please make them editable. Thx

 

[ipedro]

Whatever happened to Mark Zuckerberg's embrace of interop between Meta apps? I'd love to get rid of WhatsApp and consolidate the few family members who insist on using it into Facebook Messenger where everyone else is. In an interview with The Verge some years ago, Zuck proudly talked about interoperability between all of Meta's apps.

It's insane that you have to remember which apps you talk to different people in:

In Meta apps alone, were you talking to someone in...
WhatsApp?
Facebook Messenger?
An Instagram DM?

And if it wasn't bad enough, they added Threads DMs too, completely separate than IG.

 

[svish]

Not something that I would use. Use WhatsApp occasionally and don't think I will find it useful. But good to know about the changes.

 

[TimFL1]

I’m surprised that Apple has let iMessage fall behind in terms of group texting. They limit groups to 32 participants. Local groups in my area (pool club, parent group at school) are using WhatsApp because it can do what Apple doesn’t yet allow. WhatsApp allows over 1,000 members.

Almost all the participants use iPhones so it’s not like WhatsApp is needed for cross platform compatibility. It’s really about managing large groups.

It‘s even worse when you look at RCS, which enforces an universal minimum group chat participant limit of 100.

Whatever happened to Mark Zuckerberg's embrace of interop between Meta apps? I'd love to get rid of WhatsApp and consolidate the few family members who insist on using it into Facebook Messenger where everyone else is. In an interview with The Verge some years ago, Zuck proudly talked about interoperability between all of Meta's apps.

It's insane that you have to remember which apps you talk to different people in:

In Meta apps alone, were you talking to someone in...
WhatsApp?
Facebook Messenger?
An Instagram DM?

And if it wasn't bad enough, they added Threads DMs too, completely separate than IG.

EU happened. You fell for his little interop marketing stunt I guess, they dropped that as fast as possible when the EU wouldn’t let them link usage data between WhatsApp and other Meta products. Afaik they‘re slowly tiptoeing back to linking you up to Metaland, but the steps are pretty small (e.g. optional accounts center).

It‘s the only reason they wanted this in the first place: to monetize WhatsApp even further by siphoning usage data to the other Meta products and building a reliable profile of you across platforms.

 

[DaveS79]

What I would like to see is better poll management. Something like poll edits, export to table in the chat and elsewhere. Various flags to participants in the poll etc. right now polls are good but not flexible enough.

 

[SFjohn]

Meta makes me sick, I choose to stay away from all that toxic stuff (same goes for X). The only social media I use is MacRumors.