"WhatsApp says the new feature will be rolled out as of now and over the coming weeks as part of an app update, meaning it's not immediately available on all devices." That's what we wrote in April about the announcement of Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp that the service has redesigned its invitation system and the new system is now being rolled out worldwide.
In hindsight, the "not immediately available on all devices" sounds rather euphemistic. Because with the fact that WhatsApp would dawdle like that when rolling out the feature, we had not expected.
The magazine "TechCrunch" has noticed that the function has never arrived in the US in the weeks following the announcement, unlike in India. And in Germany, the feature was long in coming.
Just now, half a year after the announcement, German WhatsApp users have recently become better able to manage who can invite them into group chats. By default, users should be able to prevent the new system from being included in group chats against their will. However, the setting must be made yourself under Settings / Account / Privacy / Groups .
THE MIRROR
The new settings
WhatsApp's original plans had a total of three choices: "My Contacts," "Everyone," and "Nobody." This has now become, for the actual introduction of the feature in this country, "My Contacts", "Everyone" and "My contacts except ...".
WhatsApp's November 5 message states that the options have been adjusted "based on feedback from users": "This way, you can exclude or select all of your contacts."
No chance for complete peace
The new option "My contacts except ..." means: It is now possible to explicitly forbid certain contacts from simply picking them up in groups. In addition, all contacts can be marked at the same time via a button, after which you will receive an invitation and a chance to dodge before each group entry.
Complete silence before group chat invitations will continue to be a pious wish for those annoyed users. Because users who can no longer add someone directly to a group because of their attitude, can still send their target persons an invitation to the group. This is possible, for example, if someone wants to include strangers in a group, but their own attitude is not on "Everyone". Or if someone wants to win someone from the list "My contacts except ..." for his group.
If you want to accept a group invitation, you must once again click on "join group" in the chat history with the inviting person. If the invitee is not part of their own contact list, there is also the option of "reporting", "blocking" the sender or adding it to their own contacts.
As in April, Facebook promises that the update will be available to users "around the world," "with the latest release of WhatsApp." One big difference, however, is that the new system is actually already available on our test device this time.
