WhatsApp just announced a feature that allows group members to share recent chat history with new participants. It ensures messages and media are securely shared with end-to-end encryption, making group onboarding easier and more private for everyone.
| Key Points | Details |
|---|---|
| Story about: | Group History Sharing |
| Status: | Rolling out |
| Compatibility: | The latest versions of WhatsApp for Android and iOS are designated as compatible updates. |
| Previous news: | WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.6.10.71: what's new? WhatsApp is working on a feature that allows users to format messages as spoilers! |
WhatsApp launches history sharing update for group chats
In the post about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.1.28 update, we announced a feature to share their chat history with new group members. This update introduces an option that automatically forwards some previous messages and media to people who join their groups. Sharing the group history helps newcomers catch up faster without asking for more context about ongoing discussions. This feature is optional, so users can decide whether to share their chat history with new members.
The WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.2.10.73 update launched the same functionality to some beta testers. This release brings the same experience to iOS users as previously introduced on Android, although availability was limited. Today, WhatsApp shared an official blog post about this functionality. The announcement suggests that WhatsApp is gradually rolling out the group history sharing feature to more users starting today.
WhatsApp announced that the group history sharing feature is finally being rolled out to users on Android and iOS. This is one of the most requested features, as it helps new members quickly understand ongoing conversations and stay aligned with the group. Group admins and members can now choose to send recent messages to newcomers, making it easier to catch up without disrupting the flow of the chat. This addition provides greater flexibility and control over how group conversations are shared with new participants.
Before this feature was introduced, new members often had to ask existing participants for summaries of recent discussions, which could disrupt the flow of the group. For example, new members might request screenshots or ask someone to forward earlier messages to catch up. This is especially relevant for users with strict privacy settings for group invites, which require a separate invitation to join a group chats. In such cases, they could miss messages shared before they joined. With this new feature, that issue is finally resolved.
Users who install the latest updates can now decide whether to share their chat history with new group participants. When adding someone to a group, they can choose to share recent messages with them. By default, only messages from the past 14 days are included, with a maximum of 100 messages. However, users also have the flexibility to share fewer messages if they prefer by selecting one of the following options: 25, 50, 75, and 100.
Messages sent through the group history sharing are protected by end-to-end encryption. If the user decides to share their chat history with the new member, WhatsApp adds them to the group and generates a new encryption key. The messages are then re-encrypted with this key before being shared. This ensures that only authorized participants can access the shared history, keeping all messages secure and private.
After adding the new member to the group, WhatsApp will start sharing the chat history. Messages received by newcomers are highlighted in a different color. This makes it easier to distinguish old messages in the chat from ongoing conversations. When the history sharing starts, all group members receive a notification that recent messages have been shared. This also includes timestamps and details about the history sharing event.
Note that since this feature is optional, users are in control over whether their chat history is shared with new members. This gives users full flexibility to maintain their privacy while still bringing newcomers up to speed. However, group admins can retroactively disable this setting from the group permissions screen. If the feature is turned off by the admins for any reason, no one in the group will be able to share recent chat history.
The feature that allows users to share their chat history with new group participants is available to users who install the latest version of WhatsApp for Android and iOS directly from the official stores. This feature is currently rolling out, so it isn't available to everyone yet. Over the next few weeks, all users will be able to bring new members up to speed quickly while maintaining control over their shared messages and media.
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