WhatsApp ‘read later’ feature coming soon, set to be major improvement over existing archived chats

In the latest development, WhatsApp is bringing a new feature that will replace, or at least improve upon the concept of archived chats. The company has reportedly been working on the new feature called ‘Read Later’ and will soon be rolling it out for users.The feature is expected to be a better option and once it is introduced, WhatsApp may (or may not) remove the archived chats option that appears on top of the app right now, as per WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo.

The report noted the development in the latest 2.21.2.2 beta version of WhatsApp. According to the report, once the feature is enabled, the chats (ones users want to archive) will remain in the Read Later option and whenever a new message will arrive, it will not notify users about it. Currently, the archive chats feature allows users to archive the chat but whenever a new message comes, the chat appears on top of the screen, and the purpose of hiding the chat in the first place fails. However, with the new feature, the company will be removing these interruptions for users. The chats will remain muted.

“If you don’t like Read Later and you want to ‘downgrade’ to the old functionality (when the feature will be enabled for everyone in a future build), you can within WhatsApp Chat Settings,” the report said. The feature is expected to be released for Android users first.

Meanwhile, if users want to hide a chat they can just archive it. The option of Archived chats can be found at the end of all the chats. Users can simply open the app and scroll down to the bottom of the chats. There, an option to archive chats will be present and users can check all the archived chats.