How to stop members from sending messages in WhatsApp group [Android Guide]

Over 1.5 Billion people use WhatsApp around the world, and we can only imagine the number of WhatsApp groups that exist right now. WhatsApp groups have their fair share of pros and cons. The good thing about WhatsApp groups is people can have conversations together, which becomes useful when a decision is to be taken related to the next Diwali trip or college project or anything else. However, these same groups can also turn out to be outright annoying when the members start sending pointless messages in the group – more so when a group is only created to share announcements. As a solution to this, WhatsApp rolled out a feature back in May this year that lets group admins stop members from sending messages in WhatsApp group. If you happen to be an admin of one such group, we show you how you can stop this nuisance by preventing members from sending messages in WhatsApp group. Read on.

How to stop members from sending messages in WhatsApp group

Step 1: Open the WhatsApp group you are the admin of and then tap on the three-dot menu button located in the top-right corner of the screen. After that, tap on ‘Group info’ and then tap on the ‘Group settings’ option.

Step 2: Under the ‘Group settings’ menu, tap on the ‘Send messages’ option. By default, ‘All participants’ will be selected, which means all the members of the group can send messages to the group. But, to stop members from sending messages in WhatsApp group, you have to select the ‘Only admins’ option and then tap on ‘OK’.

Well that’s it. That’s how you can stop members from sending messages in WhatsApp group.

Once you have selected the ‘Only admins’ option, a message will be delivered in the group informing all users that they can no longer send messages to the group. Besides, the textbox will also be removed and a bar will be displayed at the bottom of chat screen saying “Only admins can send messages”. However, do note that when you select the ‘Only admins’ option, all the admins of the group are able to send messages to the group. This will only stop those members from sending messages to the group who are not admins.

If the group members want to convey something to the admin, they can tap on the bar at the bottom of their chat screen which shows a list of all the admins. They can tap on the admin name to send him a message privately.

Furthermore, members can also reply to the admin’s messages in group privately. To do so, select the message by long-pressing on it, tap on the reply icon (left arrow), and you will be taken to the personal chat with that admin where you can reply to his message he sent in the group.

We personally believe that preventing members from sending messages in a group defeats the purpose of having a group at first place. But, this can be useful in those groups that are created only to share announcements and updates – where messages from other members may not have much importance.

For more such tips and tricks, you can head over to our ‘How-To Guides‘ section.