WhatsApp Beta Testing Expiration Dates for Groups

• WhatsApp groups may soon come with an expiration date.
• Messenger will then remind you to delete them.
• The function is currently still under development.

Whether it’s a bachelor party, a birthday party or a wedding – groups on WhatsApp are perfect for planning events. Especially since they also offer the possibility to create a poll. But once the event is over, the group is usually dead. But you will certainly carry the chat history with you in your backup for years to come.

Apparently this is a thorn in WhatsApp’s side. In the future, such “time-sensitive groups” should be deleted when they have served their purpose. The WhatsApp team is working on a new feature for this: an expiry date for groups.

Das Fannblog WABetaInfo discovered it back in March in beta version 23.5.0.71 for iOS. Now it can also be found in April in the Android beta version 2.23.8.11.

According to WABeta Info, you can give any group an expiration date when you create it or later. Here you can choose between a period of time (one day, one week) or a date of your choice under iOS. On Android, on the other hand, you only have the options: “Now”, “One day”, “One week” and “One month”. It is still unclear which time periods WhatsApp will ultimately offer you.

When the expiration date is reached, Messenger will remind you and ask you to delete the group. However, only you as an administrator will receive this request. The other contacts in the group will not receive a notification. It is still unclear when the feature will leave beta status and move into WhatsApp. Until then, Messenger advises you to activate this feature so that your chat histories do not overflow.

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