WhatsApp group admin settings, explained

WhatsApp group admin settings, under Group info → Group permissions, control whether members can edit the name, icon and description, send messages, add people, share the invite link and send message history, and whether new members need approval. Admins can also appoint other admins, delete anyone's message for everyone within about two days, and reset the link.

Menu names below match WhatsApp for Android and iPhone as of October 2026, and where the two differ, both are given. On either, you reach Group info by opening the group and tapping its name; admins are marked with an admin label in the member list there. The last sections suggest setups for notices-only and discussion groups.

What does each Group permissions setting do?

Defaults depend on the group's size. A new group lets everyone post and edit group info, but once a group has more than 256 members, Edit group settings defaults to admins only. Groups started with fewer than 33 members let everyone add people and share the invite link. Approve new members starts off, so anyone with the link walks straight in.

Approval sits on top of the other switches. With Approve new members on, people arriving through the link, a QR code or a member's invitation wait as requests until an admin approves them. It is the one setting that stops a leaked link from filling the group.

How do you make someone admin in a WhatsApp group?

1. 1Open the group and tap its name to open Group info.
2. 2Tap the member you want to promote. On Android you can also tap and hold.
3. 3Tap Make group admin.

To promote several people at once, go to Group permissions → Edit group admins on Android, or Group permissions → Group admins on iPhone, tick the members, then tap the tick on Android or Done on iPhone. There is no cap on admins, and any admin can promote anyone; the other numbers are in WhatsApp group limits.

How do you remove an admin or member from a WhatsApp group?

Dismissing an admin keeps them in the group; removing takes them out. In Group info, tap the admin, then Dismiss as admin, or untick several at once on the same Edit group admins (Android) or Group admins (iPhone) screen. To remove someone from the group, tap them and choose Remove followed by their name, then OK on Android, or Remove from group, then Remove, on iPhone.

• Only admins can dismiss or remove an admin. A member with a problem admin can report that admin's messages, block them or leave.
• The group's creator can't be removed and stays an admin unless they leave.
• If the only admin leaves, WhatsApp makes a random member admin. An admin who leaves and rejoins has to be promoted again.
• WhatsApp says it can't interfere with group administration, so support can't restore anyone's admin rights.

Can WhatsApp group admins delete messages for everyone?

Yes, for about two days after a message is sent. Tap and hold the member's message, tap Delete (the bin icon), then Delete for everyone; on iPhone it is Delete, the bin icon, Delete for Everyone, then Delete to confirm. In its place everyone sees "This message was deleted by admin" followed by the admin's name, so members know who removed it. An admin deletion can't be recovered or appealed, it only works for people on a recent version of WhatsApp, and anyone who read the message first has already read it.

If you want members to help moderate, turn on Send for admin review in Group permissions. Members can then flag a message to every admin, and admins have about two days to delete it, report it to WhatsApp or leave it. Flagged messages stay end-to-end encrypted and aren't sent to WhatsApp.

How do you reset the invite link and approve join requests?

The link lives in Group info → Invite via link or QR code, with options to send it on WhatsApp, copy it, share it to your status or show a QR code. Anyone holding it can join and pass it on. Reset it whenever it has spread further than you meant:

1. 1Open Group info and tap Invite via link or QR code.
2. 2Tap Reset link, then Reset link again to confirm (and OK on Android).

The old link stops working at once and can't be restored; anyone who taps it is told the link was reset and has to ask an admin. With Approve new members on, requests collect under Pending requests, each showing where it came from, and you approve or dismiss each one. Adding someone directly depends on their privacy: if their Groups setting is My contacts and they haven't saved you, WhatsApp offers to send a private invite instead, which lasts three days. Adding members without saving their number covers links, QR codes and approvals in more depth.

Disappearing messages, @all and chat privacy

• Disappearing messages: in Group info, set new messages to vanish after 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. Any member can change the timer unless Edit group settings is limited to admins.
• @all: announced on 4 August 2026. In groups of 32 or fewer members anyone can mention everyone; above 32, only admins can. WhatsApp says a member who finds it noisy can mute @all at any time in notification settings. More in how to tag everyone in a WhatsApp group.
• Advanced chat privacy: in Group info, it stops people exporting the chat, auto-saving its media and using its messages with Meta AI features. As of October 2026, WhatsApp's help centre says the latest version is replacing Advanced chat privacy with Restricted chat, which adds one control: nobody in the chat can use linked devices for it, so it stays off WhatsApp Web and the desktop apps. WhatsApp warns that people on older app versions may still get round it, and you aren't told if anyone in the chat is on one. In a group only admins can turn it on, and chats that already use Advanced chat privacy don't switch over automatically.
• Message history: with Send message history on, a member who adds someone can send them the group's pinned messages and up to 100 messages from the last 14 days, as WhatsApp's help centre puts it as of October 2026. What new members can see explains the rest.

Reporting a group, and leaving as an admin

To report a group, open Group info → Report group. WhatsApp receives up to the last five messages sent to you in that group, and nobody is told. To leave, tap Exit group, then choose Exit group to keep the chat history or Exit and delete for me to erase it; keep it if you may need evidence. Only admins are notified when someone leaves, but the Past members list in Group info shows everyone who left in the last 60 days.

To close a group for everyone, an admin has to remove every member first, then exit and delete it. Members keep their copy of the chat, but nobody can send anything in it again.

Recommended settings for notices-only and discussion groups

Write the rules into the group description, which holds 2,048 characters, and pin the ones people forget. WhatsApp group rules has ready-to-copy examples.

Keeping settings straight across many groups

Admins of dozens of groups rarely recheck each one, so settings drift and old invite links keep working until someone resets them. A monthly pass through Group info in each group catches most of it. If the groups sit on numbers connected to WavesFlo, its signed webhooks include group.settings_changed, group.membership_request, group.participant_joined and group.participant_left, so a settings change or a pending join request can reach your own systems or an n8n workflow as it happens. Groups with Restricted chat turned on are the exception: WavesFlo connects each number as a linked device, so those groups don't reach it. The webhooks and n8n guide shows the setup.