WhatsApp to release feature to bring profile icons in group chats

Within a group chat, this feature will display a person’s profile image next to each message sent by that user.

In October last year, WhatsApp news tracker WABetaInfo reported that the Meta-owned service was developing a feature that will display profile icons within group chats. Now, citing a WhatsApp beta for Android update, the website has said that the instant messaging service continues to work on the feature, which is still under development.

With the help of a screenshot, WABetaInfo showed that WhatsApp has not ‘abandoned’ its work on this ability. The screenshot also showed how the option, once fully functional and released, will work.

As seen above, the profile photo a group member will be displayed next to each message sent by that participant. If a user does not have a profile image, or if it is hidden due to the user’s privacy settings, then an empty profile photo will show up next to his/her name. This default image has a unique characteristic, which makes that person easily recognisable: it has the same colour as the contact name.