There’s an unsaid rule about giving people some context before adding them to a WhatsApp group, especially if it’s a large group with active members. Until now, you had to do that task manually, acting like a chatbot and summarizing everything in your own words, or by sharing screenshots. However, an upcoming WhatsApp update could help you with this.
The Meta-owned messaging platform is testing a new feature called “group chat history sharing” (via a WABetaInfo report). As the name suggests, the feature lets a WhatsApp user (likely the admin) share the chat history (up to 100 messages sent within 14 days) with someone while adding them to a group.
How WhatsApp’s chat history sharing works
Once users select a contact name, the option to share the chat history appears at the bottom of the screen, as a dialog box with options to send the last 25, 50, 75, or 100 messages. As the new participant opens the group conversation, they’ll see the messages (with corresponding timestamps) appear in the chat.
Instead of joining the group with no context about what’s going on, the new participant gets an idea of the topic being discussed and the flow of the conversations, which can be crucial, especially in professional WhatsApp groups. Basically, the feature lets new group members catch up in a much more efficient and effective manner.
Previously, the “group chat history feature” was available in the beta version of the app for WhatsApp. Now, it is also accessible to users testing the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS update (available in the TestFlight app). It’s worth mentioning that the feature isn’t enabled by default; the platform doesn’t automatically send the group chat history to new members.
Beta testers can share the group chat history with users who don’t have access to the feature, implying that the background infrastructure supporting the feature is already in place. It’s just a matter of time before WhatsApp releases it via a stable update to the general public on both Android and iOS.