WhatsApp has been on a recent run of adding new features and updates to its free to use app, and today the firm is introducing yet more tools that anyone on the messaging platform will be able to use.
The new features, which WhatsApp says are rolling out globally, are all to do with group chats. If you live in the UK, the WhatsApp group chat is a pillar of modern communication. Unlike the US, which is seemingly tied to iMessage groups or the humble SMS app on Android, WhatsApp unites iPhone and Android users in one, Meta-owned, place.
One of three new additions to the app this week is member tags. It lets you give yourself a tag in a group chat so you can let the group know who you are.
“So you can be “Anna’s Dad” in one group, and “Goalkeeper” in another,” WhatsApp explained in a blog post.
This looks handy if you are in groups of parents, on a sports team, or any group chat where you might not know all the participants incredibly well. It could help give group chats a bit more context, especially if you need to interact with messages from it infrequently. It could prove a handy memory jog.
If that helps you define yourself on group chats, the addition of text stickers should help you stand out. This lets you quickly turn any word you want to send in a chat into a sticker to help it stand out. All you have to do is type the text you want as a sticker into WhatsApp’s Sticker Search bar, and the tech will create something for you to send.
You’ll also be able to search for stickers and add them directly to your saved sticker packs if you’d prefer to pre-make some. This means you don’t have to send them in a chat first in order to save them to use later.
The final addition is event reminders. In the past few months, WhatsApp has added the ability to create and send event invites in group chats so people within that chat can see the details of, and RSVP to, real life or online events. I’m surprised Meta took this long to add this tool to WhatsApp given the Facebook event page was a pillar of pre-mobile Facebook life.
Now you can set an event reminder, whether it’s a group call or a party you’ve organised, to give people a nudge that they need to don their headset or put on their dancing shoes and head out the door.
Whether you are on iPhone or Android, check WhatsApp in the app store to see if you have any updates for the app waiting to install. Once you’re on the latest version, you should see member tags and customer sticks ready to use right away. WhatsApp says event reminders “will see a more gradual rollout”.
