WhatsApp has rolled out five new features for group chats, the company announced, with the most notable letting members notify everyone in a chat at once instead of tagging people one by one.
WhatsApp said the new @everyone feature is meant for time-sensitive messages such as school or office closures, event deadlines, or last-minute changes to plans. In groups with more than 32 members, only admins will be able to use the feature. WhatsApp said notifications will appear even in chats that have been muted, though users can silence @everyone alerts specifically through their notification settings.
Poll upgrades
WhatsApp also added three improvements to group polls. Poll creators can now set an end time that automatically locks voting once it expires, hide the names of participants so others cannot see how they voted, and edit a poll question for up to 15 minutes after posting to fix typos or add clarification.
Spin-off group chats
WhatsApp has also made it easier to create new group chats from existing ones. A "create a similar group" option lets users build a smaller group chat using members of a current group without starting from scratch. WhatsApp described this as useful for planning surprise parties or coordinating events, though it acknowledged the feature could also be used for gossiping unnoticed.
WhatsApp said the changes follow updates earlier this year that added group message history, member tags and event reminders. The company has more than 3 billion users worldwide.
