Alert for millions of WhatsApp users – group chats are changing forever
WHATSAPP is testing a major change to group chats to make your life more peaceful.
The impressive update is currently being trialled right now – and may already be live on your phone.
WhatsApp recently began testing maximum group sizes of up to 1,024 people.
And to help manage that, WhatsApp is trialling a new feature that automatically mutes very large groups when you join them.
It was spotted this week by the WhatsApp investigators at WABetaInfo, who reported that the feature is now rolling out on the beta test app.
The auto-mute feature kicks in if you try to join a group with more than 256 participants.
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“Since you are always in control over your groups and notifications, you can restore notifications for a muted group chat at any time,” WABetaInfo explained.
Of course, it’s currently impossible to have a group of beyond 512 members on the live version of WhatsApp.
And it’s unclear exactly when these changes will roll out to the general public.
Just last month, it emerged that WhatsApp was testing enormous group sizes.
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WhatsApp group sizes were originally capped at 100 people, before changing to a limit of 256 in 2016.
Then earlier this year, WhatsApp ramped this up to a frankly enormous 512 people.
Now WhatsApp is testing maximum group sizes of up to 1,024 participants.
If you want to try the latest WhatsApp features before everyone else, follow our guide below to join the beta.
How to get WhatsApp beta
To download WhatsApp beta for your smartphone you need to go to Google Play on your Android and search for WhatsApp.
Scroll down the page until you see “Become a Beta Tester”.
Tap the “I’m In” button and then click “Join” to confirm.
Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.
Read more on iPhone
Joining the WhatsApp beta on iOS for iPhone is more difficult, and has limited capacity.
Follow Apple’s guide here.
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