Facebook is fixing one of WhatsApp’s most annoying quirks

For those groups you love, but are just too noisy

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WhatsAppwill soon allow you to mute group notifications forever, rather than for a day, a week or a year, helping stem the tide of alerts from groups that you don’t want to leave, but are too busy for you to check every update.

The forthcoming update was spotted byWABetaInfo, who specialize in trawling through WhatsApp beta install files for clues about future features. The option isn’t available to try yet, even for beta testers, but is currently in development and will hopefully appear on handsets soon.

This seems like a small but smart update. Muting alerts for eight hours will allow you to continue a work day uninterrupted, and muting for a week means you won’t be disturbed while you’re on vacation, but if you choose to mute notifications for an entire year, it’s very likely that what you actually want to do is turn them off indefinitely.

Changes on the way

This should be very convenient for managing notifications from huge groups with dozens of members, and those that you didn’t really want to join in the first place, but are too embarrassed to leave – and it’s not the only new WhatsApp feature on the way.

Another update coming soonshould finally allow you to use the same WhatsApp account on two (or possibly more) different devices simultaneously. This will eliminate the need to keep logging in and out, and could be a real game-changer if you have phones for both work and personal use.

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Cat is TechRadar’s Homes Editor specializing in kitchen appliances and smart home technology. She’s been a tech journalist for 15 years, and is here to help you choose the right devices for your home and do more with them. When not working she’s a keen home baker, and makes a pretty mean macaron.

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