Yes, you read it correctly! Now with WhatsApp update for iPhone and Android, you can mute chats of individual contacts or chats.
Previously, the only option to get rid of irritating individual contacts was to block them in order to stop getting notifications from them or turn off WhatsApp notifications. This is not a good choice by any stretch of the imagination as that turns off notifications for all chats along with that contact which is not what you want.
However, with the mute option, you can disable notifications for the chat of a specific person or group in WhatsApp. Additionally, you’ll also get to know how you can mute the status of specific WhatsApp contacts in this guide.
Contents
Mute Individual Chat Or Group In WhatsApp
For iPhone
Mute chat in iPhone means to turn off message tone as well as WhatsApp notifications for a group or individual chat.
- Open WhatsApp and go to the contact or group which you want to mute.
- Swipe left on that chat and select More. Tap on Mute from the options presented.
OR
- Tap on the chat to open the conversation. On top of the screen tap on the name of the contact or group.
- Contact Info/Group Info will open. Here, you can tap on Mute.
With these two methods, you can stop notifications from chats of a single person in WhatsApp on iPhone.
For Android
In Android, mute chat means to turn off sound for notifications or silencing the notifications even if your phone is in ring mode while you will still receive the notifications. That said, there is an option to disable notifications as well while using the Mute option.
To mute chat for a single person in WhatsApp on Android, you need the Android version ( 2.12.197) or newer. Follow the below steps to mute chats for individual contact in Android:
- Open WhatsApp, and tap on the contact or group for whom you want to mute the chat.
- Next, tap on 3 dots at the top right as shown in the picture and tap on View contact or Group info.
- After this look for the Mute notifications option and turn it on by tapping on it.
- It will ask for how long you want to mute, “8 Hours”, “1 Week” or “1 Year”.
- Choose the desired option and tap on Ok.
These photos were taken from WhatsApp Version 2.12.510.
Like iPhone, you can disable notifications for a particular contact or group in Android along with message tone by unchecking an extra setting Show Notifications at the bottom.
Now, let us go ahead and learn what does mute means for WhatsApp status and how to mute/unmute the status of other contacts on Android and iPhone.
Mute WhatsApp Status For Desired Contacts
To mute a friend’s WhatsApp status follow the steps mentioned below.
1. Open WhatsApp and select Status tab.
You will find it in different locations depending on the smartphone(Android/iOS) you are using as shown below.
2. Under Status, swipe towards left on the desired contact’s name and select Mute followed by Mute once more for iPhone/iPad users.
If you are using WhatsApp on an Android device then long tap on the contact’s name you wish to mute and select Mute from the pop-up.
That is it! The selected contact’s status will be muted. Similarly, you can mute other WhatsApp status of other friends if desired.
Unmute WhatsApp Status
You can quickly unmute the muted status for contact by using the same gesture above and selecting Unmute this time.
What Does Muting WhatsApp Status Mean And What Happens When You Mute Someone’s Status?
When you mute a WhatsApp status for a particular contact then their WhatsApp status update will still be shown but at the bottom under MUTED section.
Moreover, the contact status will be grayed out. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot view it. You can still see the status updates of a Muted contact by tapping on the update as you would do to see a status update for anyone.
The only thing is that they will be moved to the bottom under Recent and Viewed Updates and you won’t be notified by the color change of the circle around the contact’s update preview for the new status update from that particular user.
You can use the Mute feature if you want to ignore Status updates of specific contacts.
The mute feature can be quite definitely handy for the users of the widely used instant messaging app, WhatsApp. Just keep in mind that even the muted contacts or groups will be a part of the WhatsApp backup. To avoid that, you need to stop WhatsApp backup completely.
But on the positive side, if you want to restore the backup on a different device, you will get muted chats on the new device as well. If you are switching to Android from iOS, you may find this article useful.
We hope that this clears everything about Mute WhatsApp chats and the status option. If you have any queries please let us know in the comments.
i am not able to see 2 blue arrows from 1 contact even though that person has read the messages..what could be the reason for the same?
Hey, the recipient of the message might have very well turned off Read receipts in WhatsApp using the Privacy settings.
I wish there was an “ignore” mechanism where I could just put all messages from a specific sender on pause/hold until I have time to address them. I was hoping mute would do that. It’s not of much use if you still get confronted with undesired individual’s messages when you open chat to text other individuals.
Hi Jinja,
You make perfect sense. And we have noted this point. We will try to find out an app or service which can do that. Also, we have given this requirement to our App development team. They will also work on it.
Thank you for your valuable comment. 🙂
How do i come to know that the person has muted me without checking my chat history through his/her mobile in whatsapp or sitting beside them and by sending a message after confirming that mobile is not in silent mode and mobile data is turned on?
Hi Avinash,
It is pretty hard to figure out whether someone has muted you or not. The only thing you can observe is whether you are getting replies to your messages or not. If no is the answer then there are chances that person has muted you but still it is not 100% confirmed.
If i mute the person, his messages will appear to me as sent or delivered?
Because i dont want to get message for some days from a certain person.
But want to see the messages after sometime.
Hi Niru,
Mute has nothing to do with delivery of messages. Mute Chat simply means turning off the notifications for iOS and silent mode notifications for Android. You will still receive messages from the contact you muted but you won’t get notifications if you are on iOS or notifications will be in silent mode if you are using Android. Moreover, you can turn off notifications as well in Android. Look at this link – http://www.techuntold.com/turn-off-whatsapp-notifications-for-specific-contact/
Hope this helps.
I’m so confused by this – in kik if you mute someone it doesn’t notify you of a new message and you only see new messages if you click on the conversation. I have someone muted and archived on whatsapp yet they still keep sending messages and being sent to my inbox. What’s the point of this function then?
Hi Alex,
I have never used Kik so cannot comment on that. However, in WhatsApp if you mute someone you will still receive the messages but notifications will be turned off if you are using an iOS device. If you are on Android then you will get the notifications but without any message tone even if the phone is in ring mode. You can turn off the notifications as well. Have a look at this link – http://www.techuntold.com/turn-off-whatsapp-notifications-for-specific-contact/
Hope this clears your confusion.
when you start to mute the person..did he/she will know that you read his/her mssage by the blue link?
Yes, whenever you read the messages, they will definitely get the blue tick with the time stamp when you read the conversation(of course this is possible only if you have Read Reciepts turned on) even if muted. Mute is only to turn off or silent WhatsApp notifications and nothing more than that.
What if I mute and delete the number from my contacts will I get a new chat notification?
Even if you delete the contact, mute feature will still work in the same way. If you are an Android user, then notification will be in silent mode unless you have Turned off notification as well. If you are an iOS user then you won’t get a notification.
Some times I observe that last seen of my friends have difference of 1 or 2 minutes. whenever I see chatroom. what does it mean?
You cannot be sure that they were talking to each other. It can be by coincidence that two of them left WhatsApp at the same time or difference of 1-2 minutes(as you say) after talking to 2 different people.
Will he/she able to know my last seen if I mute the contact
There is no effect on Last seen if you mute the contact. Last seen will be visible/invisible depending on your Privacy settings.
Once I turn off the mute will I get the message I had muted
Hi Chad,
When you mute the contact, you only stop getting the notifications, however the messages are still deilvered to you. Hope this helps.
I mute someone, but still am getting notification from him.
If you mute someone on Android you would still get notifications but in silent mode. To Turn off notifications as well use this method – http://www.techuntold.com/turn-off-whatsapp-notifications-for-specific-contact/
If you are using iPhone/iPad then Mute means Turning off the notifications for that contact or group.
Will the person knows that he has been muted by someone else ??
How will he know
It’s pretty hard make out if anyone has muted you or not. The only thing which comes to my mind is that if the person isn’t replying to your messages then may be he/she has muted you but that can also mean that they have not been using WhatsApp itself. If you can see their last seen then you can get a better idea. Hope this helps.
Do we get notifications after unmute to check the Messages from that person
Definitely, you will start getting notification as soon as you unmute the contact.
This feature is available for Windows.