WhatsApp Beta Adds A Vacation Mode And You Can Now Also Join Active Group Calls Midway

4 Sep, 2020

The newest beta releases for WhatsApp for Android and WhatsApp for the Apple iPhone are sure to cause some excitement. The new beta versions that have now been released for testing include a set of rather interesting features which could eventually make their way to the final WhatsApp versions that we use. WhatsApp beta for Android is now on version 2.20.199.8 while the WhatsApp Messenger beta for iOS is now the 2.20.100.22 version. These are available to anyone who has signed up to test WhatsApp beta versions on either platform. As always, the new updates are detailed by the good folks over at WABetaInfo.

The WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.199.8 is re-adding a Vacation Mode after a gap of a year. During this time in development, it was also called �Ignore Archived Chats� in some WhatsApp Beta versions earlier. The Vacation Mode has a simple task�to keep your archived chats remain ignored as you always wanted. The thing with WhatsApp�s message notification system is that even if you have an archived chat whiling away time somewhere near the bottom of your messages list, it would pop back up to the top if a new message arrived from that sender. Now, if Vacation Mode does make a proper return, you will be able to leave that option enabled that will keep the archived chats at the bottom of your WhatsApp messages inbox even when new messages may have been sent by that sender. As a user, you will have the option of either enabling this, or letting archived chats come to the top of the window as a new WhatsApp message arrives.

It was quite perplexing that the Facebook owned WhatsApp decided to go slow on the development of Vacation Mode over the past few months, but it is perhaps a positive sign that it is now making a reappearance in the latest beta version, at least on Android.

WhatsApp Messenger beta for iOS 2.20.100.22 version is also testing out a new set of features. There are improvements being made to WhatsApp Pay, the digital payments platform, though WABetaInfo indicates that these improvements are particularly meant for users in Spain. WhatsApp is also making changes to improve the load speed for images, videos and GIFs. The Expiring Messages feature is still being worked on, with no clear release date available just yet.

WhatsApp is the default group calling app for many, particularly at a time when we are all relying on video calls and group voice calls for work. WhatsApp is working on allowing a user to join a group call, if it is still active at the time, in case they missed an earlier notification. This will bring WhatsApp Group Calls much closer to platforms such as Zoom, in the virtual meeting stakes.

There is also a new tone for when a call is terminated. And as always, there seem to be a bunch of stability improvements for WhatsApp and also better performance of the app in case the phone it is being used on, is running low on storage space.