Summary
- WhatsApp’s current notification badge clears upon opening the app, even if messages haven’t been read, leading to potential missed messages.
- WhatsApp is reportedly developing a new ‘Show count until viewed’ setting, allowing users to keep the notification badge visible until they’ve actually opened and read their messages.
- This new feature will give users more control over how notifications are handled, allowing them to choose between the current behavior (clearing the badge on app launch) and the new behavior (keeping the badge until messages are viewed).
If you’re like me and use WhatsApp as your primary messaging platform, you know how annoying keeping track of conversations via notifications can be. That’s precisely why the WhatsApp home screen icon/badge offers a notification counter — highlighted in red, it lets users check how many pending WhatsApp notifications they have at a glance.
Currently, the badge’s behavior makes it so that no matter how many pending notifications you have, and regardless of who sent them to you, they disappear as soon as you open WhatsApp.
Related
WhatsApp could soon auto-clear your unread notifications
Power users rejoice! This new feature could be a real time-saver
Simply opening WhatsApp (and not opening any pending chats) clears the home screen badge notification counter. Recognizing that this can be an inconvenience for those trying to keep track of their conversations, and can lead to missed notifications if users open the app by mistake, WhatsApp seems to be working on a change.
As highlighted by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp beta 2.25.4.20 surfaces a new notification setting — one that lets you decide what happens to your notifications once you open WhatsApp.
New toggle (hopefully) arriving soon
Source: WABetaInfo
Under ‘Home screen notifications’ in the app’s settings, the messaging giant aims to introduce a new ‘Show count until viewed’ toggle. “Show total unseen messages and calls on the WhatsApp icon until you view them,” reads the toggle’s description.
If enabled, instead of clearing the badge on initiating the app, WhatsApp will maintain the home screen notifications until unread messages and calls have been manually viewed. If disabled, the app will return to its current behavior, where it clears the badge with every app launch. The latter is primarily useful when you’ve left certain messages unread, and you want to leave them that way without the app icon constantly alerting you of a new message.
It is currently unclear if and when the new feature will roll out in stable.
