Group chats on Heylo are organized into topics. They allow admins and members to create separate chats for messages focused on specific subjects or themes within your group.
Every member of the group has a chat screen with two sections: Joined and Not Joined. People who join group chats can contribute to the conversation by sending messages. They can also receive notifications for that chat. For chats not joined, they can still see the messages in the chat but cannot send any messages or receive any notifications, unless they were @mentioned.
Everyone in the group can choose the chats to join except Announcements and private group chats.
Group chats are organized on the chats screen by the most recent message sent. Heylo does not use an algorithm to determine which group chats to display.
Join a group chat
To join a group chat, navigate to the chats screen and select an interesting group chat. Tap the "join" button to be added to the group chat. Joining a group grants access to the conversation by sending messages and receiving relevant notifications. When joining a group chat, a system message will indicate who joined, and others will receive a notification if enabled. There is no limit to the number of group chats that anyone can join.
Leave or mute a group chat
To leave a group chat, select the header and then "leave quietly". When someone leaves, no notifications or system messages are sent. Alternatively, group chats can be muted to prevent message notifications while still remaining a member of the group chat. Members only receive messages from a not joined group chat if they are specifically @mentioned and have those notifications enabled in permissions.
For a quick action, simply long press the group chat from the chats tab to leave or mute a group chat.
Creating a new group chat
Depending on the group’s permissions, admins or members of a group can create a new group chat. A new group chat can have a name, photo, and description to help others understand what the group chat is all about.
When creating a new group chat, the creator can invite specific members. Invited members are automatically added to the group chat, and the group chat appears in "joined." Public group chats will also notify everyone in the group by push notification and/or email depending on their personal notification settings. In addition, the group chat is listed at the top of the chats screen and labeled as “new”.
There is no limit to the number of group chats that anyone can create.
Moderators
Moderators have administrative privileges over a specific group chat. Moderators can edit the details such as the name, description, or image. They can also add or remove members from the group chat, and delete any message or photo shared. Anyone can be a group chat moderator, including both admins and members. By default, the creator is the moderator. If all moderators are removed, then everyone in the group chat is a moderator of that group chat.
View group chat details
To see details, navigate to the group chat and then the top header. Anyone in the group can see the photo, description, and full list of members.
Archived and deleted group chats
Group chats with more than 30 days of inactivity are automatically archived for the group. Only admins can delete any group chat.