WhatsApp makes group chats more transparent and less noisy

WhatsApp is always testing several new features on its beta channel. Some of them take months to show up in a public build, while others make the jump faster than that. WhatsApp has now shared a laundry list of features it has begun rolling out to its users in recent weeks, including an ‘online’ indicator for group chats, better control over group notifications, and tappable reactions.

To enhance your group chat experience, WhatsApp will display how many people are ‘online’ in a conversation. This will make it easier to see whether members are currently active or if you’re messaging into a silent group. However, you’ll only see the number of people online, not their names.

Another group chat-related change is the ability to prioritize and highlight @mentions, replies, and messages from saved contacts in conversations. To enable this, go to the group chat’s Notifications page and select the “Highlights” option under the ‘Notify for’ menu. WhatsApp was spotted testing threaded replies for group chats to make them less chaotic, but this feature is not a part of the latest announcement.

WhatsApp is also making it easier to react to a message. If someone has already reacted to a message, tap on their reaction to +1 or select one of your own.

A better video calling experience

Going forward, you should enjoy a better and smoother video call experience on WhatsApp. Meta has upgraded and optimized its routing system to ensure the best connection possible, helping reduce freezing and dropped calls. Additionally, video calls will switch to HD quality faster once the internet speed improves.

If you use an iPhone, you can pinch to zoom in on a video call for a closer view. Plus, you can set WhatsApp as the default messaging and calling app, replacing Apple’s stock apps. Lastly, iPhone users can directly scan a document from WhatsApp’s attachment menu for easy sharing.

For Channels, WhatsApp will now let admins generate a unique QR code for easy sharing. Anyone who scans the QR code will be taken directly to the channel. Another new feature allows admins to record and share short video clips of up to 60 seconds with their followers.

Lastly, you can get a transcript of voice messages received in channels when you can’t listen to the audio.

Almost all of these changes are live on WhatsApp’s latest stable build available for iPhone and Android. If you don’t see some of the features, wait for a few more weeks for the rollout to finish.