WhatsApp has rolled out a fresh batch of group chat features.
The update is headlined by a new @all mention tool that lets users notify everyone in a conversation with a single tag. While it’s designed for important announcements, it could also become one of the app’s most divisive additions.
The new @all mention works much like its counterparts in Slack and Discord. It allows a single message to alert every member of a group instead of tagging people individually. WhatsApp says it’s intended for time-sensitive updates, such as office closures, school announcements or last-minute changes to plans.
To prevent abuse in larger communities, there’s one key limitation. In groups with more than 32 members, only administrators can use the feature.
@all mentions will still generate notifications in muted chats. However, WhatsApp has added a dedicated setting that lets users mute @all alerts separately if they don’t want to receive them.
Group polls are also becoming more capable. Creators can now set an automatic closing time, allowing polls to lock once voting ends without requiring any manual intervention. WhatsApp has also introduced the option to hide voter names, making it possible to collect anonymous responses from group members.
There’s also a quality-of-life improvement for anyone who spots a mistake after publishing a poll. Questions can now be edited for up to 15 minutes after they’re posted. This makes it easier to fix typos or clarify wording without creating a new poll from scratch.
The update also streamlines group management. A new “Create a similar group” option allows users to generate a new chat using members from an existing group in a single tap. This avoids the need to add participants individually. WhatsApp suggests it could be useful for organising side conversations or planning surprise events without cluttering the main chat.
The new features build on several group-focused additions introduced earlier this year, including group message history, member tags and event reminders.
With WhatsApp now serving more than 100 million users in the US and over 3 billion worldwide, Meta continues to focus on making group conversations more flexible. Even so, the arrival of @all means some users may soon find their phones buzzing a little more often.
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