WhatsApp is no longer just aninstant messaging application, with its feature set expanding significantly after the acquisition by Meta. The beloved encrypted chat app now resembles some of the other Meta services,such as Instagramand Facebook. However, we’ve seen WhatsApp take some time to learn from its own competition,like with Channels, for instance. The messaging app is now announcing another such feature for its mobile and web apps, one that we presumed was already available.
The WhatsApp team took to itsofficial Channelto announce the rollout of pinned messages for conversations. This would be greatly utilized in group chats wherein people need to know the time and date for an upcoming gathering, as illustrated by WhatsApp’s own example. It should also work on one-on-one chats to serve a similar purpose. The feature appears to be live on my Android smartphone in addition to WhatsApp Web, indicating that this is a wider rollout.
A correspondingWhatsApp FAQ pagedetails how users would go about enabling pinned messages for each version of WhatsApp, including WhatsApp Web. You will have the choice to set the duration of the pinned message’s appearance, with options including 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days. Just as you would expect, tapping the pinned message takes the user to the original text.
WhatsApp message pinning on Android
The ability to pin messages changes a little in group chats, especially with regard to permissions. WhatsApp says that group admins on Android can allow members to pin messages by turning on theEdit group settingstoggle. Group admins on WhatsApp Web and desktop will have to choose betweenAll membersorOnly adminsfrom theEdit group infopage insideGroup settingsto enable message pinning for members.
One notable caveat with the new implementation is that users can only pin one message at a time. Trying to pin another message tells us that it will replace the original pinned message. Thankfully, this could be changing as per WABetaInfo’sreporting, with the site finding evidence for pinning multiple messages in chats with WhatsApp beta for Androidversion 2.23.26.9. As you’re able to see below, users would be able to navigate between multiple pinned messages from the top of the screen, which is definitely more convenient. It’s still unclear if there will be a limit on the amount of messages that can be pinned in this fashion.
WhatsApp already lets userspin up to three full conversationson top of theChatstab, but the ability to pin individual messages was strangely absent. Telegram and Discord have supported message pinning for as long as we can remember, so it’s quite a mystery as to what took the WhatsApp team this long to switch on this basic functionality.
We first uncovered hints of this feature in a beta version of WhatsApp Business for Androidearlier this year. It took until October for it to broadly appear onWhatsApp beta for Android. With this new rollout across all versions of WhatsApp, message pinning is now officially a part of the WhatsApp experience, though a few years too late.
