WhatsApp New Update Will Bring Vacation Mode and Report Feature

WhatsApp, one of the most used social media messaging apps is now planning a massive update. The Facebook owned messaging service is now planning to add a host of features. The new update is called 2.20.206.3 and will be coming soon on both android and iOS app stores. The features that are coming in the new WhatsApp update 2.20.206.3 will bring with it features called Vacation Mode and Report to WhatsApp. The news was shared by a prominent WhatsApp news source WABetaInfo.

📝 WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.206.3: what's new?

New feature available for beta testers today: attach a copy of your recent messages to WhatsApp when you report chats, groups and business accounts!https://t.co/I0tw6J2sxd

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) November 4, 2020

WhatsApp Update 2.20.206.3:

The two new features that are coming in the next update are Vacation mode and Report to WhatsApp. Out of these two, the report feature is the one that is an interesting one. We'll explain the report feature in more detail but first let's dive into Vacation mode.

Vacation Mode:

The story behind this new feature is an interesting one. Whatsapp started a feature called “Ignore Archived Chats” which was the start of vacation mode but then was dropped. Then the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.199.8 was released and the “Ignore Archived Chats” or rather Vacation mode was seen again. Since then this new feature has been getting regular tweaks and improvements and it looks like it is ready for a rollout.

When vacation mode arrives on WhatsApp in the future updates it will allow users to not only make archive chats but also keep them in the archive when a new message arrives. Till now if a user made a chat archive then Whatsapp would automatically un-archive it when a new message arrived. In Vacation Mode, any archived chat won't be automatically un-archived even if a new message arrived until the user un-archives it.

Report Feature Coming:

This is a feature that has us quite fascinated. For the first time, Whatsapp is adding a report feature that is needed and not the one that it got from Facebook and Instagram. Till now when users used to report someone in Whatsapp it used to calculate into factors like how many reports have been filed on that account or how new that account is on the platform but it is clear why this wasn't a comprehensive system. WhatsApp is primarily a messaging platform and not a social media platform like Facebook or Instagram are so the methods needed to ban users need to different as well.

When the new WhatsApp update comes users will not only be able to report a contact for harassment but also share a copy of recent messages from that chat. It will still be up to users to choose if they want to share the recent messages but the fact that is option is coming is a good thing. This feature is not only reserved for one on one chats but also to business chats and group chats.