Whatsapp has for sometime now been the go to App for messaging, video and voice calls and a quick means of broadcasting information. Interestingly, almost everyone who uses Whatsapp is in at least a group chat. Thanks to ease of joining one, which could be via a group link, creating one for yourself or requesting to be added.
However, most who belong to a group on whatsapp found themselves there without their consent to be added. You have experienced this before, and most times you are annoyed with this experience. Even worse, there are the rogue ones who will serially keep returning you to the group no matter how many times you leave.
Giving you the power of Choice
If you’ve ever wished for a solution, here is a good news, According to recent reports, whatsapp has started working on adding a new group invitation system. The report added that this feature will be available for both WhatsApp Business as well as the regular version of the app.
This new feature will put the power of the choice of group in your hands as against the administrator. With its latest update, users will be able to regulate how they join whatsapp group chats by allowing users to control who is allowed to add them to groups.
The update was reported by WABetaInfo on Tuesday, but is currently only available to iOS beta testers.
Whatsapp Group Invitation – How it works
When the feature is finally rolled out, users will be able to access it by going to Settings >> Account >> Privacy.
The new privacy option will allow users to control who can add them to groups. The options will include “Everyone”, “My Contacts”, or “Nobody”. According to WABetaInfo, administrators of a group will still be able to send invites to others, however, the user will get the group invitation request as opposed to been added straight to the group. In case the privacy settings of the user do not allow the administrator to send the invite then a new chat will appear from the administrator with the option to accept or decline the invitation to the group.
The three options and what they mean for you
Everyone: nothing changes and people can still add you into group chats without your permission.
My Contacts: only people in your contacts will be able to add you into group chats without your express permission.
Nobody: you will need to approve or reject every time you are added to a group chat.
It is important to note that the requests to join a group will have a 72 hours expiry period and a user can not get two invites from any given group at the same time.
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