1. Customize your notifications
On Android, open up Settings, then go to Apps & notifications and choose an app to make changes. On iOS, you can take even more control over the style of alerts: From Settings, pick Notifications, then tap on a particular messaging app to see the available options. Notifications ping you at all hours of the day, stacks of unread messages build up until they aren’t worth the effort to catch up on, and important information gets lost in the stream. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Below are 10 ways to improve your group chatting experience.
2. Mute noisy conversations
Most messaging tools let you mute conversations for a certain period, and the option should be easy to find in your app of choice. In WhatsApp for Android, for example, open a chat, tap the menu button (three dots, top right), then choose Mute notifications and pick a time period.
3. Switch to the web
You can get WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram on the web, for example, and macOS users can also access Apple’s iMessage from their computer’s desktop. Just sign in with your usual account credentials and you’ll have easy access to all of your group conversations.
4. Say it with GIFs
5. Search through messages
Take WhatsApp for example: In the Android version of the app, you can tap the menu button (three dots, top right) within a chat, and then Search to look for something specific. In the iOS version of WhatsApp, you need to tap on the group name at the top to find the Chat Search option.
6. Take back what you said
You might have noticed a number of chat apps have introduced an “unsend” feature, or the ability to take back what you said. This is great, because plans are easy to clarify, which means fewer messages overall. Plus, if you accidentally send a private message to the group, you’ll be relieved to expunge it from the record. Facebook Messenger is one of the chat apps that now has this superpower built into it. On the iOS or Android version of the app, you can press and hold on a particular message, tap More, hit Unsend, and then choose Unsend for Everyone or Unsend for You.
7. Share your location
8. Save your chat history
You can also save or export your chats, which is handy if you’re moving between different devices, or want to keep a record of what’s been said. WhatsApp has some of the best backup options. From the app’s Settings page on iOS or Android, tap Chats then Chat backup to choose a backup method (like iCloud or Google Drive) and ensure your conversations are saved regularly. On some platforms, like WhatsApp, you can also archive chats—the digital equivalent of filing them away in a dusty cabinet. WhatsApp used to save archived conversations in a folder at the bottom of your chat list, but it would automatically resurrect to the top of your list (blaring alert and all) if anyone in an archived chat texted you. That made it hard to ignore obnoxious contacts or ones you’d prefer to forget. But WhatsApp recently moved the Archived folder to the top of your chat list, and made it so those conversations stay locked away until you actively open the folder to check.
9. Clear your chat history
Maybe instead of backing up chats, you want to delete them. This could be for privacy or legal reasons, or pure personal preference. The Messages app that comes as part of iOS does this particularly well, though it’s available in other apps too. From the iOS Settings screen, tap Messages then Keep Messages—you can choose to keep them forever, for a year, or for just 30 days.
10. Leave a group chat
You should be able to find the exit button fairly easily in most of the messaging apps you use. In the case of group chats on Instagram, for example, you can tap the header banner in a group conversation to see its participants, then tap Leave Chat to quit it.
