WhatsApp has finally added a new feature that will allow users to ignore notifications from archived chats. The feature was first spotted way back in 2018 when it was rumoured to come with vacation mode. While there is no news on the availability of vacation mode, the company is now rolling out the new “ignore archived chats” to WhatsApp Beta for Android users.
Currently, if you archive a chat on WhatsApp, it is automatically unarchived by WhatsApp once you receive a new message. With the new feature, you will be able to ignore chats easily as they will not be unarchived even if you receive a new message. Similarly, you will not receive new message notifications unless you manually unarchive a chat. WhatsApp has enabled the feature for selected beta users by default, but you can enable/disable it yourself by following the steps below:
- Open WhatsApp and navigate to Settings > Chats
- Under ‘Archived chats’ option, enable the “Keep chats archived” option
This will ensure that you don’t receive notifications for chats that are archived. You can also find the setting under ‘Archive settings’ in the Archived section. Do note that you can continue receiving notifications for archived chats by disabling the feature.
WhatsApp recently added the ability to mute notifications forever allowing users to mute chats thereby reducing the number of notifications they receive. Moreover, the company also added a disappearing messages feature allowing users to delete messages after a predefined duration of time.