Introducing Group Message History: A more private way to catch up in group chats

We’re excited to introduce Group Message History, a feature that makes group chats even more welcoming without interruption. Now, group admins and members can choose to send recent messages to new members, so they can catch up quickly.

One of our most requested features, it’s another example of how WhatsApp is leading the way in group messaging, no matter your device. Group Message History remains end-to-end encrypted like all other personal messages, giving you a quicker, more private way to keep conversations flowing, with no more screenshots, and no more unnecessary message forwarding.

When you add someone new to a group chat, you’ll see an option to send recent messages to them - from 25 up to 100 maximum. This keeps things simple, ensuring new members only need to read the most relevant, recent context, and the whole group can easily see the messages that have been shared.

Sending message history is an action you have to take and admins have the option to disable the setting for their groups. Admins will always be able to share message history.

For transparency, when message history is sent, everyone in the group is notified, with clear timestamps and sender information, and message history is visually distinct from regular messages.

We’ve started rolling out Group Message History gradually, and look forward to continuing to set the standard for private, group chat experiences on WhatsApp.