WhatsApp is apparently testing out a brand new feature: chat pinning. The feature has been available on other chat apps like Telegram for quite some time now, so it’s good to see that WhatsApp is finally seeing the usability of such a feature, and is planning on bringing it to the stable version of the app soon.
The new feature is available in the latest version of WhatsApp Beta (v2.17.162), allowing users running the beta version to pin important chats to the top of the screen. What this means, is that if you’ve pinned a chat, it’ll always remain on the top of the list, regardless of any new messages in other chat threads.
The feature works for both individual and group chats, and can definitely help you if you chat with a lot of people, and would like to keep the important chats on top for easier accessibility when you need it.
To pin a chat, you can simply press and hold on the chat thread, and then tap on the pin icon on the top. Unpinning is a similar process: just tap and hold on the chat thread, and tap on the unpin icon on the top.
Since the feature is in beta right now, there is no telling when (or if) it’ll make it to the stable app. I really hope it does, because it can prove very useful to a lot of people. Plus brand new features always get people excited, so it’ll prove useful to WhatsApp itself, as well. When I say “brand new feature”, I mean brand new for the app; chat pinning as a feature has existed for quite some time now, so it’s not like WhatsApp is really innovating. But hey, cool new feature, who am I to complain?
Abubakar Mohammed
