WhatsApp has been consistently amplifying its features to enhance user convenience, especially in group settings where conversations can get exited. The recent announcement about extending message pinning support is one of such enhancement aimed at reducing extra typing and streamlining information retrieval.
Last year, WhatsApp introduced message pinning, allowing users to attach important messages to the top of their Chats tab for easy reference. Initially, the limit was three chats, but by March, beta testers were allowed to pin up to five individual or group chats. This extension allowed users more flexibility in keeping critical conversations at the forefront.
Now, WhatsApp is extending this feature globally, providing billions of users the ability to pin messages within a chat. Through its official account, WhatsApp shared a video demonstrating how message pinning can save users the effort of re-typing or searching for essential information. This feature is particularly useful in group chats, where important information can easily get buried under an avalanche of messages.
According to the updated support documentation, you can pin messages for a specific duration by long-pressing on a chat and select "Pin" from the three-dot overflow menu. The duration can be set for one, seven, or thirty days. Group admins can control whether other participants are allowed to pin messages or not, adding an extra layer of control over the group environment.
However, there are some limitations. Users can pin up to three messages at a time. If you need to pin more than three messages, you'll have to unpin one to make space and then you can pin new message. To unpin, simply long-press the pinned message and select "Unpin" from the same menu.
In addition to pinning, WhatsApp offers an alternative for users who want to highlight specific messages without making them public to the entire group. This is the "star" feature, which allows users to mark messages for their personal reference. Unlike pinned messages, there is no limit on the number of starred messages, but only the user who starred them can view that bookmark.
While the current update provides flexibility in managing group chats, users might still appreciate a future update allowing messages to be pinned indefinitely until manually unpinned. This would offer more control for users needing longer-term reference to specific information.
With these changes, WhatsApp continues to evolve, focusing on improving user experience and providing more control over how information is organized and accessed in chats.