WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging services used by over 2 billion people worldwide. The Facebook-owned messaging platform regularly adds new features to its app, and WhatsApp tests them through its beta program before releasing them to the larger public. Similarly, WhatsApp is now working to replace “Archived Chats” with a new feature called “Read Later.” It is implemented with the Vacation Mode feature that permanently mutes the archived chats and prevents them appear in the default chat list.
As per the latest information, WhatsApp is going to release an improved version of “Archived Chats” in a future update, but with a new name. The company will replace Archived Chats with Read Later — the feature that will prevent notifications of new messages from archived chats. For sure, this is a feature of Vacation Mode that we had talked about a week ago.
WhatsApp Read Later Features
Archived Chats in WhatsApp allows users to temporarily hide the conversations until a new message arrives. The messaging platform now wants to reduce the interruptions through the Read Later option. So, when a user turns this feature on, the new messages will be muted and stay in the Read Later section. However, if a user does not want to use this feature, he can turn it off from the settings. Read Later will appear at the top of the conversations list as a new persistent cell.
How does it work? When a user taps the “Read Later” option, he’ll see a new presentation banner thats explains the feature. WhatsApp explains that this feature will reduce interruptions. When new messages arrive from an archived chat, that chat will stay in the Read Later section, and users will not get any notifications. Though, users will have an option to disable the implemented Vacation Mode in “Read Later Settings.”
Note that this feature is still under development and is not yet available for users. It will be available in a future update, but we don’t know the exact date yet.
