WhatsApp group chats can be incredibly useful — the perfect tool for organizing social events, or keeping up to date with news from places like your children’s school. But, everyone knows that groups can quickly descend into chaos as everyone starts, well, chatting with one another. That’s why WhatsApp is introducing a new option for group chats that lets only approved administrators send messages.
It’s a simple change, but one that will make group chats more functional and appealing for certain use-cases. WhatsApp obviously knows group chats are a big part of its appeal, and has been slowly adding more features. It recently introduced group descriptions as well as anti-spam tools and a catch-up feature that shows users replies and mentions. All this makes the Facebook-owned WhatsApp more attractive for the type of group organizing and group announcement feature that might have otherwise been done on Facebook itself.
As WhatsApp said in a blog post: “One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations. We’ve introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases.” To enable the setting, just open “Group Info” in a group chat, then go Group Settings > Send Messages and select “Only Admins.”