Admins now have more control over the group’s attributes — they decide if the permission to change a group’s subject and icon is open to all participants or restricted to admins alone. Admins can also demote other admins to regular participants. What’s more, group creators can no longer be removed from the group they started, thereby eliminating the risk of hostile group takeovers.
In the Group Chat window, a new feature called ‘Group Catch Up’ lets users find new messages in which they’ve been mentioned, or ones which have been directly replied to, by tapping the new ‘@’ button on the lower right corner of the screen. This is particularly useful for users who are in a hurry to find relevant messages in a sea of unread group messages. A new protection feature ensures users aren’t repeatedly added to groups they’ve left.
These new features complement the recently added Group Description and Participant Search feature. Set by the creator or admin, this description should allow new members of a group to understand the purpose and guidelines of the group they’ve been invited to. The Group Description option can be found in the Group Info screen, just under the group name. The ability to search for a particular individual in the participants list can come in handy when dealing with thickly populated groups.