Groups v2: How to upgrade your group chats on Session

Groups v2 is nearly here! You will soon be able to upgrade your group chats on Session. 

Currently, group chats can face challenges with stability and reliability, especially as they grow larger. This update will ensure better reliability and pave the way for a more feature-rich experience for your group chats on Session in the future.

What improvements will this update bring?

Upgrading to Groups v2 will unlock a smoother, more reliable experience. This update brings significant improvements under the hood that directly enhance group chat functionality:

• Members will be able enjoy a more consistent messaging experience in groups.

• Group-wide settings, like disappearing messages, will sync more reliably across everyone’s devices, keeping things consistent for all members.

• Creating a new group will also be smoother and more reliable, making it far less likely that users run into issues or end up with duplicate groups. 

• Users will also be able to resend group invitations and manage group membership more easily. 

How will this update work?

Because this is an important update, it is taking place in three stages:

1. The update containing Groups v2 code will be released today! 

At this point, Groups v2 is not yet enabled. This is to ensure that users have more time to update to the latest version of Session, and coordinate the creation of new, upgraded group chats with group admins enabling a smoother transition once this feature is activated. 

While most users will receive the update automatically, it's important that if you don’t have automatic updates turned on, you use this time to get the latest version of Session. You can do this by updating your app manually. Search for Session in your app store, and select “Update”.

This release also includes important bug fixes and performance improvements unrelated to Groups v2, which need to be tested before enabling this new feature.

2. Groups v2 is enabled — Wednesday March 19th 22:00 UTC .

New group functionality will be switched on.

Admins will be able to recreate their old groups using the new Groups v2 architecture.

Any new groups created on Session by users who have installed the latest update will also use the new and improved Groups v2 architecture. 

3. Old group chats become read-only  — Wednesday April 2nd 22:00 UTC. 

Old group chats will switch to read-only mode, 14 days after Groups v2 is enabled.

You’ll still be able to view past conversations, but it won’t be possible to change settings, view or edit the members list, or send and receive messages. 

What do admins need to do to upgrade their groups? 

Session is calling on group admins to help make this release a success! Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Make sure that you’re using the latest version of Session. Ask all of your group members to ensure they have updated to the latest version as well. This is essential, as any members who have not updated will not receive the invite to the new group.

2. On Wednesday March 19th 22:00 UTC , open the group chat you want to upgrade

3. Hit the “Recreate Group” button at the bottom of the screen

4. If necessary, you can change the name of the recreated group and add or remove members that will be invited. Otherwise, the group name and members will be the same as the old group

5. Confirm your recreated group and start chatting! 

What does it mean to recreate a group? 

Recreating a group will create a new group chat with the same name and members using the new Groups v2 architecture. Please note that group chat history will not be copied to the new group. 

What will happen to old groups?

After Groups v2 is enabled, your old groups will still be fully functional, but only for 14 days. After this time, on Wednesday April 2nd 22:00 UTC, old groups will become read-only. Your old groups will remain available in read-only mode indefinitely, allowing you to access your chat history at any time. After Wednesday April 2nd 22:00 UTC, admins can still recreate their group chats following the steps above.

What happens if a group admin or a group member isn’t on the latest version of Session?

If a group admin isn’t using the latest version of Session, they won’t be able to recreate their group using the new and improved Groups v2 architecture. If a group member isn’t on the latest version of Session, they won’t receive an invitation to the recreated group. If a member from an old group isn’t appearing in a recreated group, admins should ask this member to update to the latest version of Session. They can then resend the invitation to the member. 

What new features can be expected for groups in the future?

These technical improvements lay the groundwork for even more exciting features in future releases after the release of Groups v2. Features and optimisations to the groups experience in future releases are planned to include:

• Custom group descriptions and display pictures

• Support for multiple admins and improved UI to manage and moderate a group as an admin 

• Ability to add members who aren’t in your contacts to groups via their ONS or Account ID.

• Group invitations from users not in your contacts will appear in message requests to limit spam.

• Ability for admins to leave a group without deleting it 

• Options to share or hide message history for newly invited group members 

• Improved UI for group creation

These features and improvements will be rolled out gradually, giving Session users a constantly improving group chat experience.

What should group admins do right now?

As an admin, you’re encouraged to share this post in your groups. Let your group members know about the importance of upgrading to the latest version of Session once the new release is available. 

You can encourage group members to get upgraded early by manually updating via their app store or via Github. 

That way, by the time Groups v2 is enabled on Wednesday March 19th 22:00 UTC, you’ll be able to easily invite all members to the new group, and keep chatting straight away.