WhatsApp updates its groups: ‘@everyone’ is here, and polls are getting smarter

WhatsApp is revamping group chats. And it’s trying to solve three minor problems in our digital lives: making sure everyone hears you, making decisions without having to call a residents’ meeting, and creating new groups without wasting time sifting through contacts and tick boxes.

The updates roll out today and cover polls, group notifications and the creation of conversations. The stated aim is to help people organise themselves more easily. This is by no means a minor task for a platform that claims to have over 3 billion users worldwide and more than 100 million in the United States. In practice, a significant proportion of the world’s population uses it to choose a pizzeria, arrange a meeting or remind their parents that they need their blue smock tomorrow.

The most noticeable new feature is called **@everyone**. It lets you notify all participants in a group chat at once, without having to mention them one by one. It’s the group’s digital megaphone: useful for urgent messages, a change of time, a work-related message or yet another last-minute change of plans before a party.

WhatsApp has, however, put a stop to this. In groups with more than 32 members, the feature can only be used by administrators. It’s an understandable decision: with dozens or hundreds of people, there’s a risk of every notification sounding like an alarm. And when everything is urgent, nothing usually is anymore.

Polls – one of the simplest and most widely used tools for collective decision-making – are also changing. Three new features are being introduced. The first allows you to set a closing time for voting. The poll will therefore have a deadline, just like an online competition or tender. Once the time is up, the votes are counted and a decision is made.