WhatsApp has completed the rollout 'Send Messages' feature on Android and iOS platforms. Over the last few months, WhatsApp has been working hard to improve the group messaging experience. In the process, the Facebook-owned company has rolled out a new feature recently allowing the group admins to restrict participants from sending messages to a group. The feature was initially made available for Android Beta and iOS users, but the feature has now been rolled out Android stable users as well. "This setting is rolling out to all users around the world on the latest supported versions of the app," said WhatsApp in a new blog post.
A WhatsApp Group administrator can now change the settings of Send Messages by heading over to Group Info and Group Settings. Under Group Settings, there will be a new option of ‘Send Messages.’ Hitting that will present two options- ‘Only Admins’ and ‘All Participants.’ If you select the Only Admins option, then no participant in the group will be able to send messages going forward. As expected, WhatsApp will notify the participants in the group that the settings have been changed and they won’t be able to send messages anymore in the group.
"Today, we're launching a new group setting where only admins are able to send messages to a group. One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centres, and non-profit organisations. We've introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases," said WhatsApp in the same blog post.
Furthermore, there’s no limit in modifying the ‘Send Messages‘ setting. An admin can change it back to ‘All Participants’ at any point of time. This is one of the best features added to WhatsApp this year, which will also reduce the spam messages. Often, spam messages are being forwarded in groups only to make them viral. It would have been great if WhatsApp allowed the group admin to select the particular participants to be able to send messages in the group, but it might be added in the future.
Having said that, this is a server-side change, so even if you’re on the earlier versions of WhatsApp, you might be able to spot this feature, but we suggest you upgrade the app to the latest version.
Over the last few months, WhatsApp has added new features that improve the groups experience. Some of these features include group descriptions, a catch up feature, and protection for people who are being added repeatedly to groups they've left.
