NEW YORK: Signal has introduced two new features for group chats, including labels designed to make it easier to keep track of who is who in large groups.
Labels, which arrived on WhatsApp earlier this year, are a kind of role or title you can give yourself in group chats and that are always displayed next to your profile name in messages.
Signal says these will help everyone involved quickly understand who has which role in a given group, for example "referee" or "goalkeeper" in a football team or a job title in group chats used for work. Group admins can use "Edit group details" to determine who is allowed to create labels.
The second new feature is the new maximum of people who can join a group audio and video call – 75. By comparison, WhatsApp allows up to 32 people to take part in a call at the same time.
Another new feature allows you to send photos and videos for one-time viewing to protect sensitive content. This feature, previously available on WhatsApp, is now also available on Signal Desktop. Until now, users could only receive one-time-view photos and videos within the desktop application.
Signal Desktop is also now available in the Microsoft Store, the company said. Previously, downloading and installing the programme was only possible via the Signal website.
To ensure the new functions appear and can be used, the latest Signal version must be installed on the devices being used. – dpa
