WhatsApp has been testing an unseen status update reminder feature since September, which is now available to Android users enrolled in WhatsApp’s beta program.
This reminder feature also sends you notifications for unread messages and is available with beta version 2.24.25.29 of WhatsApp for Android. The switch button to turn this on/off is located under the Institutions > Notifications > Memories menu. When this feature is enabled, WhatsApp will send you reminder notifications for status updates and messages you haven’t seen.
WABetaInfo reports that the selection of contacts for which you receive notifications is “determined by an internal algorithm that prioritizes contacts with whom users have interacted most frequently.” Additionally, “this algorithm only applies to the current instance of WhatsApp,” meaning “If a user reinstalls the app, WhatsApp will have to recalculate these interactions as this data is not stored in backups or on the server.”
WhatsApp sending reminder notifications for unseen status updates and messages from frequently used contacts is appreciated, but it would also have been helpful to have an option to receive notifications for user-selected contacts. Perhaps WhatsApp could add this with a future update before rolling out the feature to everyone via the stable channel.
If you are an Android user and don’t want to wait for the stable rollout of this feature, you can sign up for the beta program and start using it.