TikTok’s new group chats keep conversations in the app
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
TikTok is adding group chats with support for up to 32 people, the company announced today. The feature is available to users aged 16 and up, allowing them to share TikToks with friends and family members without having to open a separate messaging app.
You can start a group chat by selecting the Inbox button, tapping Chat, selecting which friends you want to include, and hitting “Start group chat.” There are some exceptions: for example, you can only join a group chat if you’re invited by people you follow back. Also, if you don’t allow anyone on the platform to message you, you won’t receive invites at all.
There are also slightly different rules for teens under the age of 18: they can only join a group chat if it contains at least one person who follows them back. Teens who create a group chat must also manually review and approve people who join.
Even though TikTok disabled DMs for users under 16 in 2020, it later gave everyone else on the app the ability to accept messages from all users. In addition to group chats, TikTok is rolling out custom stickers that users 18 and up can create and upload to the platform.
TikTok may be a little late to the group messaging game, but it sounds like the new feature will at least save you a trip to your Messenger or WhatsApp group to share the funny TikTok video you just found.
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
TikTok is adding group chats with support for up to 32 people, the company announced today. The feature is available to users aged 16 and up, allowing them to share TikToks with friends and family members without having to open a separate messaging app.
You can start a group chat by selecting the Inbox button, tapping Chat, selecting which friends you want to include, and hitting “Start group chat.” There are some exceptions: for example, you can only join a group chat if you’re invited by people you follow back. Also, if you don’t allow anyone on the platform to message you, you won’t receive invites at all.
There are also slightly different rules for teens under the age of 18: they can only join a group chat if it contains at least one person who follows them back. Teens who create a group chat must also manually review and approve people who join.
Even though TikTok disabled DMs for users under 16 in 2020, it later gave everyone else on the app the ability to accept messages from all users. In addition to group chats, TikTok is rolling out custom stickers that users 18 and up can create and upload to the platform.
TikTok may be a little late to the group messaging game, but it sounds like the new feature will at least save you a trip to your Messenger or WhatsApp group to share the funny TikTok video you just found.