WhatsApp is constantly improving its group chat feature. Recently, the Meta-owned messaging app released a functionality that enables its users to add up to 512 members to a group. Now, the company is working on a feature that will give group admins more control over who joins their groups. Also Read – Meta Rolls Out Voice Mode in Horizon Worlds: View Details
According to a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is working on the group membership approval feature. Enabling this feature will give group users more control over who can join their WhatsApp group. A screenshot of the feature shared by the blog site shows that group admins will be able to toggle this feature on and off, just like they do in the case of features like disappearing messages. Also Read – How to Transfer WhatsApp Chats from Android to iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide
In addition, the blog site says that when group admins enable this feature, everyone who wants to join a group using the group invite link will be able to share and reply to messages and keep the conversation going. Viewing requires manual approval by an administrator. There will be a new section in the Group Info section in which group admins will be able to manage all the requests coming from people who want to join the group. Also Read – WhatsApp Now Lets You Transfer Your Chats From Android to iPhone, Says Mark Zuckerberg
Notably, group administrators must turn on this feature within the group setting of individual groups to enable this feature.
What does this feature mean for WhatsApp users?
As of now, group admins can add new participants to groups either by finding them in the app or by sharing an invite link for them. This means that new members need to be invited to join a group as there is no need to search for new groups as is the case with Telegram. However, this new feature – group membership approval – points to a messaging app working on a feature that makes groups discoverable across the platform, turning WhatsApp from a traditional messaging platform to a more social messaging platform.
Alternatively, it could be one of the pieces of the puzzle in the company’s plan to introduce Communities on its platform — a feature it announced back in April this year. To remember, communities will have many groups within their scope and therefore it is important for the company to make the groups more discoverable on its platform. If so, it would be important to give admin controls that would enable them to control who joins the group (or who doesn’t).