WhatsApp Groups Updated With Features: Here’s What’s New

The popular messaging platform looks to fix the issues that have been widely reported by the media.

WhatsApp Groups have been reportedly used for peddling fake news. 

(Photo: iStockphoto)

WhatsApp’s latest attempt to fix issues at its end comes in the form of new updates for its Groups feature. This aspect of WhatsApp has been heavily used for political propaganda, especially during the election time in India.

With an aim to make its platform more user-friendly, Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday, 15 May, rolled out better administrative controls and other features for Groups.

WhatsApp Groups have been misused to peddle fake information and most of that happens because, nobody (even WhatsApp) is unable to read the content owing to its encryption standards.

The Facebook-owned messaging platform has been looking to fix the loopholes and it’s quite possible that with these new updates for Groups, it’s moving towards eliminating such mishaps in the long run.

Here’s what you get with Groups on WhatsApp now.

New WhatsApp Group Features:

• Admin controls
• Group description
• Group catch up
• Participant search

Under “Admin controls” in Group settings, as the name suggests, admins can restrict who can change the group's subject, icon and description.

A short blurb is found under Group info that allows you to set the purpose, guidelines or topics for the group.

<a href="https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000640/New-Features-for-Groups">WhatsApp Blog</a>

The “Group catch up” feature will let users catch up on messages that mention or reply to them by tapping on a new @ button that appears at the bottom right corner of the chat.

These features are available for Android and iPhone users.

In addition, WhatsApp has also made it harder for people to be re-added to Groups they have left. It’s interesting to see that WhatsApp is making these changes to connect family members with each other.

However, when you see the new Groups features, they are discreetly looking to fix the mess which has been brewing for a while now. However you see it, WhatsApp has a long way to go before it can assure users that messaging on its platform won’t instigate communal hatred or become the catalyst for election results.

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