WhatsApp launches one of its most requested features for groups

WhatsApp just announced that Group Message History is rolling out now, which Meta says is one of its “most requested features.” Here are the details.

Have you ever joined a new group chat and feel totally lost without the context of prior messages? WhatsApp has a fix rolling out today called Group Message History.

Here’s how it works, via WhatsApp’s blog post:

When you add someone new to a group chat, you’ll see an option to send recent messages to them – from 25 up to 100 maximum. This keeps things simple, ensuring new members only need to read the most relevant, recent context, and the whole group can easily see the messages that have been shared. […]

For transparency, when message history is sent, everyone in the group is notified, with clear timestamps and sender information, and message history is visually distinct from regular messages.

Meta emphasizes that message history is not automatically shared. Rather, it’s an action that has to be taken when adding a new member to the chat.

That said, admins will also have the option of disabling Group Message History entirely if they’d like—a nice touch for especially sensitive conversations.

This new feature follows the rollout last month of three more new group chat features: member tags, text stickers, and event reminders.

What do you think of WhatsApp’s new group feature? Let us know in the comments.