WhatsApp rolls out new features for those changing numbers

REFILE - CLARIFYING CAPTION Silhouettes of laptop and mobile device users are seen next to a screen projection of Whatsapp logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Changed your number? Now it's easier to inform everyone on WhatsApp, or even specific people, about the change.

There are three alert options – notify all contacts, notify contacts who you have a chat with, or you can manually choose who to alert.

However, even if users choose not to notify their contacts, all groups they were in would still be notified.

In a post by WAbetainfo, this feature was part of a roll out for WhatsApp beta for Android users and could be accessed by selecting the Change Number option under WhatsApp Settings -> Account.

Users could access this new feature by updating to the 2.18.97 Android beta on Google Play Store, though it was not yet available on WhatsApp for iOS and Window Phones.

Another important use of the Change Number feature is that it allows users to migrate their data – like chat histories – to the new number.

After the migration, all shared messages in the old chat will be transferred to the new number's chats, plus a new bubble – indicating that the user has a new number – will appear in the chat.