WhatsApp is reportedly testing a way to reduce notification overload on user accounts by automatically muting group notifications above a certain number of members. The move comes after the instant messaging and voice-over-IP service recently increased the limit on the number of participants in group chats from 256 to 1,024, encouraging business and work-related instant messaging platform usage. This could allow WhatsApp to compete with other platforms, such as Slack. WhatsApp has released its WhatsApp beta version 2.22.23.9, according to a report by WAbetaInfo. This includes a new feature where groups with more than 256 participants are automatically muted by default. Automatic triggers are reported to apply to groups that have already exceeded the 256-member threshold when a user joins a particular group. WhatsApp also automatically mutes the group after greeting the 257th participant. Users who wish to continue receiving messages from such large groups can do so manually by long-pressing the group chat from the chat list menu and selecting the unmute option. Useful if the group is properly moderated and you want to participate in the conversation. According to reports, an alert automatically appears on the user account’s group chat screen, informing users that the group is being auto-muted to reduce notification clutter. WhatsApp’s latest beta update is currently only available for Android devices via the Google Play beta program over the next few days and has version number 2.22.24.15.
