WhatsApp adds new Vacation Mode to finally give you some peace and quiet

WHATSAPP is working on a new ‘Vacation Mode’ but it’s not your standard ‘out of office’ feature.

It will be very useful for people who have archived chats but haven’t deleted them.

Vacation Mode will be great if you're someone who often archives chats — Vacation Mode will be great if you’re someone who often archives chatsCredit: Alamy

Archiving people can make your chat list look more organised but as soon as they message again they will appear back in your chats section.

According to Gadgets360: “Currently, WhatsApp offers users the ability to archive chats, but when a new message arrives, a notification does pop up for users.

“Vacation Mode looks to disable this ability and work on this feature was reported a year ago, but WhatsApp seem to have abandoned it later.”

WhatsApp appears to be working on this again in the beta version of its app, much to relief of users who don’t want to delete a chat but don’t want to be in it either.

You'll need to download the beta version of WhatsApp if you want to try out Vacation Mode before other people — You’ll need to download the beta version of WhatsApp if you want to try out Vacation Mode before other peopleCredit: Alamy

This is different from muting a chat because a muted chat can still appear visible in your chats section and remind you of the people you’d rather not talk to.

WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.199.8 is said to show references to Vacation Mode in its code.

However, it isn’t yet useable.

The feature will be tested in the beta app first before being rolled out in the mainstream.

Some WhatsApp fans have argued Vacation Mode isn’t really a feature in its own right and could just be considered an extension of chat archiving.

How to get WhatsApp beta

To download WhatsApp beta for your smartphone you need to go to Google Play on your Android and search for WhatsApp.

Scroll down the page until you see “Become a Beta Tester”.

Tap the “I’m In” button and then click “Join” to confirm.

Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.

Downloading WhatsApp beta on iOS is a much trickier and riskier process so this is not recommended.

However, WhatsApp beta can be downloaded on a computer via the Google Play site.

WhatsApp – a quick history

Here’s what you need to know…

WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum – former employees of Yahoo
It’s one of the most popular messaging services in the world
Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up”
After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
As of 2020, WhatsApp has over 2billion users globally

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