WhatsApp to Let Users Leave Group Chats 'Silently' and View Rich Link Previews in Status Updates
WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will allow users to "silently" leave group chats hosted by the messaging platform instead of all members of the group being notified when they do.
As it stands, when someone leaves a group chat, WhatsApp announces their exit to the entire group, making the act of leaving very public. It's not possible right now to leave a group quietly, but WhatsApp seems to realize that making one's exit less conspicuous may be the safer default.
WhatsApp officially allows up to 256 people to join a single chat group, which can also lead to a lot of coming and going during a conversation, and that could become a distraction to other members.
To ameliorate the situation, a beta feature uncovered by WABetainfo allows users to leave a group chat in such a way that only the administrators of the group are notified. When a group member opts out, a dialog appears that says "Only you and group admins will be notified that you left the group."
In another beta development, WhatsApp is testing rich link previews in Status updates. Sharing a link in a Status update currently only displays the URL, whereas rich link previews would display a preview of the website being linked to, offering users an idea of the content they can be expected to see if they visit the webpage.
As usual, WhatsApp hasn't offered any details on when these new features will roll out to the public while it develops them under the aegis of its beta testers. The last major rollout of new features on the platform earlier this month included emoji reactions, bigger file transfers, and larger groups.
Popular Stories
WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Ahead of the annual developer conference, Apple updated its WWDC page today with a new "Sleek peek" tagline, which replaces the original "On the horizon" tagline that it used over the past few weeks.
The graphic for WWDC 2025 has also been updated. It is now a...
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe.
Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via IGN).
With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone. 28 Years Later is the sequel to "28 Days Later" (2002) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007), which depict the aftermath of a...
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple introduced an additional perk for you this year, at no additional cost.
The perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which was released in the App Store in February.
In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby...
With iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26, Apple is planning to debut a new design that's been described as taking inspiration from visionOS, the newest operating system. With WWDC coming up soon, we thought we'd take a closer look at visionOS and some of the design details that Apple might adopt based on current rumors and leaked information.
1. Translucency
Inside Apple, the iOS 26...
With the design overhaul that's coming this year, Apple plans to rename all of its operating systems, reports Bloomberg. Going forward, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS will be identified by year, rather than by version number. We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
iOS 26 will be accompanied by...
