WhatsApp Will Soon Reveal A Feature That Forces Everyone In The Chat Group To Stop Talking
Godsend feature.
By John Lim — 05 Dec 2017, 06:35 PM
In a WhatsApp chat group, it can be difficult to cut through the chatter and make your voice heard
Especially in family chat groups...
Here's some good news: the Facebook-owned company is testing a new feature that lets you force everyone else in your group to stop chatting and listen to you
The 'Restricted Groups' feature was spotted by WABetaInfo, a site known for testing WhatsApp features early.
With the feature, a group admin can choose to disable chat group features. This means that members won't be able to send messages, images, videos, GIFs, documents or voice messages.
Admins will be able to continue chatting as normal. Everyone else will simply have to read their messages in silence.
If a non-admin really wants to get a word in, they can do so by using the Message Admin button. However, the message will need to be approved by the admin before going through to the rest of the group.
The silence isn't permanent though. Admins can only apply the restricted setting every 72 hours.
The feature is currently being trialled in the beta version of the app. It is unclear when, or if, WhatsApp will roll it out to all users.