You don’t need to have a million friends to have a million WhatsApp groups. We all have that friend who creates a group for any excuse. The problem is that WhatsApp groups pile up. What happened to that group you joined in 2023 to organize a barbecue? It’s probably still on your phone. Under a different name, but it’s definitely there.
Along with another group of strangers that you were added to in 2018 to organize a surprise birthday party. And what about the photography club for people in your city? They talk every day in the group. You haven’t been there in two years, but you don’t want all the members to be notified that you’ve left. And that’s when the question arises: Can you leave a WhatsApp group quietly?
That “walk of shame” when leaving a WhatsApp group
You’re not alone. It happens to all of us. Leaving a WhatsApp group, even if it’s dying and no one has participated in it for years, makes us anxious. It gets worse when the group is active and members chat all the time. You, who have never participated and have always been in the shadows, don’t want to be the one to interrupt their conversations with a message saying you’ve left the group.
We don’t want to be the weirdos who leave the group. Or seem rude. Much less have them start criticizing us as soon as we leave. Having them wonder why we were in that group in the first place, or someone asking who left, makes us even more anxious than staying in the group silently and never participating.
How to do an Irish goodbye on WhatsApp
Luckily, WhatsApp now makes our lives a little easier. In the latest updates, we can now leave a group silently, without anyone seeing any kind of notification.
This new feature is all about privacy. No group members will be notified with a gray message saying you’ve left the group. Except for the administrators, who will see that message. In any case, this option is much better than what we had before. If you want to quietly leave a WhatsApp group, just follow these steps. It is exactly the same on both iOS and Android:
- Open your WhatsApp app. Then, enter the group chat you want to leave.
- Tap on the group name at the top of the screen. You will access the group information tab.
- Scroll to the bottom of the list, where you will see a red button that says “Leave group.”
- The system will ask you to confirm the action. The message will also tell you that, with the new update, only users with administrator roles will be notified of your departure.
- Confirm. The group will disappear from your active chats. If you want to delete it completely, be sure to also delete the message history.
Why has WhatsApp made this change?
This isn’t the first time Meta has made changes to WhatsApp to improve what they call “digital wellbeing.” They already did so when they hid users who are online. Or when they included the option to send messages that self-destruct after being read.
With this change, Meta says that users will have greater control over their digital footprint. In addition, they believe that most users did not used to leave groups for fear of notification. Because of criticism, or even for fear of missing out, the famous FOMO.
What is surprising is that this new feature has been implemented quietly. There is no longer a way to leave the group and have the notification sent to all members. Quite the contrary. The only and default option is to notify only the group administrator. Therefore, if you are the one who created the group, you have free rein to jump ship.