WhatsApp’s looking to help users stay on top of the latest messages and updates within their chats, with the addition of new “Chat Filters”, which will make it easier to find the most recent WhatsApp conversations in different categories.
As you can see in this example, WhatsApp’s Chat Filters will now sort your D.M. discussions into:
- All – The default view of all your messages.
- Unread – All of your personal conversations that you need to catch up on or respond to
- Groups –All your group chats in one place
That’ll give you an overview of what’s happening in the app, so you can more easily manage your direct messages, while also staying on top of group discussions in the app.
WhatsApp says that the Groups overview, in particular, has been a highly requested feature, providing more oversight of each users’ various group updates. Because with WhatsApp usage on the rise, particularly in Western markets, more and more people are launching group chats, and it can be difficult to stay on top of all of the latest updates when you’ve signed up to so many discussions.
Though the focus, of course, remains on your direct conversations, and ensuring you stay on top of the latest D.M.s sent to you. Which is where the “Unread” folder will come in handy, and it’ll be interesting to see how the update helps to streamline engagement.
It seems like a handy revision, which should help to highlight the most pressing updates for each individual. And given that WhatsApp has long maintained its basic UI, it’s also interesting to see Meta looking to give it a refresh, as it works to expand the usage of the app, and encourage more types of engagement.
Which, ideally, will also include business activity.
While WhatsApp is the biggest messaging platform in the world, Meta has struggled to adequately monetize the app, because inserting ads into people’s D.M. conversations just doesn’t play.
But Meta has seen some success with WhatsApp for Business, particularly in developing markets, and the more that it can align with this, the more revenue Meta can get out of the app.
An updated U.I. could be another small step in this direction.
