WhatsApp is working on a new feature for group chats. It’s been spotted in the latest WhatsApp beta build for Android, which became available today to those in the beta testing group.
This lets you assign a label for yourself in every group you’re a part of, as showcased by the screenshot below. The label you assign yourself will be seen by all current and future members of a group, but nowhere else – each such label is specific to one group. Once you have set a label for yourself in a group, it will remain there until you change it, even if you reset or reinstall WhatsApp.
As you can see, WhatsApp suggests things like “Jordan’s parent”, “coach”, “chairperson”, that sort of thing, but your imagination is the only real limit here. Of course, you’d hopefully go for something that’s useful for other people to tell, at a glance, what your role is. That’s the whole point of this feature.
As usual with such features present in WhatsApp betas, it’s unclear when this will roll out to the general public. It could take a few weeks, or many months – but it is on the way.
