Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
WhatsApp, a US-run messaging service, has introduced a new feature that allows users to mute a chat — whether individual or group — forever.
The Facebook-owned platform, with over two billion users worldwide, broke the news in a post on Friday.
“You can now mute a chat forever,” it wrote on its Twitter page.
You can now mute a chat forever 🤫 pic.twitter.com/DlH7jAt6P8
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 23, 2020
This is an improvement from the previous feature which allows users to mute a chat for a maximum period of one year.
To use this feature, WhatsApp users are simply required to click on any chat of their choice, tap on the mute icon and then select the “Always” option.
Once muted, you can see the “Unmute” notifications option in the chat settings instead of the “Mute” notifications option.
The company also announced options for users to mute chats for eight hours as well as a week.
The development is the latest in the list of several features introduced by the company since the dawn of the year.
In April, WhatsApp had increased the limit on the number of participants allowed to use its video call feature from four to eight to improve communication amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many of us are isolated from friends and family. People all over the world are turning to voice and video calling on WhatsApp more than ever before,” the company had said.
It also introduced a new feature that allows users to send and receive money via Facebook Pay, a payment service, in June.
