Consent. We've heard everyone talk a lot more about it these days, but it doesn't just apply to people, it should also be required in the tech world. Specifically, from our apps and the services we use. If I like a certain service but don't want to give it all the freedom to do everything it wants, I should be able to limit it. Take for example WhatsApp's groups. For years, anyone could add you to a group, without asking you or even knowing you, and WhatsApp let them do it. You just get a notification that you've been added to a group; you can leave it, sure, but you were already added.
Read MoreGoogle Messages v4.0 enables renaming of group chats, changes colors for unpictured contacts, and more [APK Teardown]
Google's Messages app came out with a brand new update this week, and while it's sporting a major new version number, the changes are fairly moderate. It's now possible to give custom names to your group chats, and there's a tweak to the UI that makes Messages look a lot more like Google's Contacts and Phone apps. There are also several things to discuss in a teardown, particularly with regards to RCS.
Read MoreYahoo Together is another group messaging app nobody asked for [APK Download]
If there's one thing we don't have enough of in this world, it's messaging apps. Thankfully, Yahoo's latest creation is exactly that, and it's designed to simplify group communication between friends, family, and colleagues. You may have read about the invite-only Yahoo Squirrel app a few months back — well now it's out of testing and open to everyone.
Read MoreYahoo just released a group chat app called Squirrel
Chat apps are all the rage these days. Just ask Google, it can't seem to get enough. And it looks like Yahoo is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with its new organized group chat app named "Squirrel," which mysteriously appeared on the Play Store just earlier today.
Read MoreAllo is rolling out Web Stickers and group chat mentions, v20 prepares to add more advanced group management and more [APK Teardown]
A new version of Allo hit this morning, but that's not nearly as important as the features that were remotely activated by Google in the last day or two. Two features we've been expecting have gone live: Web Stickers and @mentions in group chats. But just as those teardown topics make the transition into live features, the latest update does bring some new things to look out for in the future, including group management and permanent bans, plus a new way to record selfies.
Read MoreAndroid Messages v2.2 cleans up the setup for solo and group messaging, allows adding new people to conversations [APK Download]
Not all updates have to introduce a big feature to make a big difference. The latest version of Android Messages demonstrates just that. It includes a couple of relatively small changes to the way group messaging is set up and should be a little faster for most people, and might remove some confusion for a few.
The screen for creating a new conversation in earlier versions was geared in favor of group chats. To be more specific, tapping on a contact would put them into a list of recipients and allowed users to keep adding more people until the user pressed a button to finalize the list and begin typing messages.
Read MoreHangouts v14 adds app shortcuts for 7.1 Nougat, changes setup steps for group chat, and reorganizes several chat settings [APK Download]
Earlier this year Google's VP of Communications, Nick Fox, declared Hangouts would be refocused on the enterprise market where it had found much more adoption. Ironically, the couple of updates since that statement haven't exactly screamed professionalism, or even added much of anything particularly relevant to the workplace. That changes with v14, which cleans up and improves various aspects of group chats. This version also enables app shortcuts (formerly Launcher Shortcuts) for use on Android 7.1 and makes a few other tweaks, as well.
Read MoreFacebook Messenger Now Has Group Call Feature, Global Rollout Has Started
Facebook's been making some big improvements to Messenger recently, and the latest is no different: group calling is coming, with the global rollout having started yesterday on both iOS and Android. As is now usual with Messenger, the web app (on both facebook.com and messenger.com) will probably get the update at some point in the future.
Group calling works as you'd expect: tap on a group chat and, if the feature has rolled out to you yet, there will be a phone icon in the app bar. Tap this and it will bring up a dialogue asking who you'd like to include in the group call.
Read MoreThe Best Of AP
WhatsApp Group Chats Can Now Have Up To 256 Members
My largest WhatsApp group has 6 members (as seen in the image above) and we can barely manage it when we're all being active at the same time. So forgive me for not being overwhelmingly excited by this new update to WhatsApp's beta channel that enables groups up to 256 members. The previous limit was 100, so if you ever wished you could grow your 100-member group larger, there are now a lot more people you can invite in on the conversation.
The change seems to be triggered by WhatsApp's version 2.12.437, though some users on this exact release aren't seeing it yet.
Read MoreViber 5.6 Expands Maximum Character Limit, Adds Group Message Likes And Public Chats On Tablets
We don't mention Viber quite as often as WhatsApp around these corners, but the app sure has its own legions of fans and dedicated users thanks to continuous updates and interesting features being sprinkled in all the time. Take this last version 5.6 for example. It may not seem like a huge leap on paper, but it does bring feature parity between phones and tablets, and between individual conversations and group messages.
A new heart appears next to each message in group chats, so you can like what others are saying (as in the screenshot at the top of this article). Messages' maximum length has been expanded to 7,000 characters for those who want to talk uninterruptedly — it's almost long enough to fit one of David's reviews, ha!
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