WhatsApp Begins Testing Scheduled Message Feature for Android Users
After a long wait, popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp has finally begun testing a feature that allows users to schedule messages for delivery at a specific time.
Following an extended development period, the feature has been made available to selected users of the beta version of WhatsApp for Android through the Google Play Store.
The new feature will allow users to compose messages in advance and arrange for them to be sent automatically on a specified date and at a convenient time.
How It Works and Key Features
The new feature will enable users to schedule not only ordinary text messages but also links, images and videos for delivery at a designated time. However, there is a limitation when sending images or videos: only one file can be attached to each scheduled message. The feature will work in both individual, one-to-one conversations and group chats.
One of the most notable aspects of the feature is that scheduled messages will automatically reach recipients at the designated time, even if the sender's mobile phone or device is offline or disconnected from the internet. Like other regular WhatsApp messages, scheduled messages will remain fully protected by end-to-end encryption.
How to Use the Feature and Scheduling Limits
Once the feature becomes available, users will be able to schedule a message by pressing and holding the Send button in a chat window and selecting the desired date and time through a dedicated interface. Messages can be scheduled for delivery as early as 10 minutes from the current time and as far ahead as two weeks, or 14 days.
Once a message has been scheduled, it will be stored in a dedicated section of the chat's information screen. Before the scheduled delivery time, the sender will be able to view, edit or permanently delete or cancel the message at any time.
Notably, recipients and other chat participants will not be able to tell whether a message was scheduled in advance or subsequently deleted.
How the Feature Works in Group Chats
The feature follows a specific rule for group conversations. Only members who belong to the group at the time the message is scheduled will be eligible to receive it. In other words, if someone joins the group between the time the message is scheduled and its intended delivery time, the new member will not be able to see that pre-scheduled message.
Following the testing phase, the useful feature is expected to become available to all regular WhatsApp users worldwide in the near future.
//DBTech/BMT/OR//
