WhatsApp is working on a minor but potentially insightful feature for group chats that will tell exactly how many users are online at any given moment. The feature has started rolling out to select testers running WhatsApp beta for Android v2.24.25.30, WABetaInfo reports.
An online counter appears at the top of group chats to tell the number of members who are currently online. The stable version of WhatsApp currently displays the names of some group members at the top and shows the typing indicator. However, WhatsApp recently gave the typing indicator a new look and feel and moved it to the bottom of the group chat screen above the typing box.
While the online counter tells about the number of users who have WhatsApp open on their devices, it doesn"t give an idea about how many are actively engaged with the group. Moreover, it doesn"t reveal the names of any online users.
WhatsApp allows users to disable their "Online" status for privacy reasons. The website notes that the online counter will not count the users who have turned off their online status on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp"s online counter could be helpful in the sense people can figure out when most group m are online and what is the best time to interact with the group chat, communicate important updates, or post messages that need quick responses.
The Meta-owned instant messaging platform is also testing a reminder notification feature for chat messages. As the name suggests, the feature will alert users about unseen messages from specific contacts, similar to how it reminds them about status updates.
As per the website, WhatsApp"s internal algorithm prioritizes contacts with whom users interact most frequently, and users might get reminders for people they regularly talk to. It adds that the algorithm must recalculate the interactions if the user reinstalls the app, as this data is not stored in backups or the server.
WhatsApp is expected to keep the reminder notifications to a minimum and not nudge users about unread messages too much. The feature is being tested with select users running WhatsApp beta for Android v2.24.25.29. Users can disable these reminders from the WhatsApp notification settings if they want to.