Social messaging application WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature that allows a 512-member capacity in groups, which is the double the previous limit of 256 members.

The development comes as a relief to many had been waiting for the upgrade for a long time and especially those who rely on the application for communications in offices, colleges or other occupations where groups of more than 256 people are prevalent.

According to a report by the WABetaInfo publication, the new, larger WhatsApp groups are available to Whatsapp Beta users on Android and iOS , particularly the  2.22.12.10 on Android and version 22.12.0.70 on iOS, and for  those who are not on the beta program, the feature could soon be rolling out to stable versions of WhatsApp as well.

This is a step in the right direction but is still far behind rival app Telegram, which allows for 200,000 users in a single group.

Whatsapp is looking forward to ironing out any bugs that may arise from the new upgrade during its beta test, following which all WhatsApp users will be able to make and be a part of larger WhatsApp Groups.

This comes after the recent introduction of the 'silent exit' feature that allows individuals to exit the groups without a notification alerting the members about their departure.

In the new feature, when an individual opts to leave a group, only the administrators are notified. The users  receive a prompt notifying them that, 'Only you and group admins will be notified that you left the group'.

Also in the works is a new undo button for deleted message, which will let users undelete a deleted messages within a few seconds of it being deleted. The feature will work similarly to how a small button lets you pull back incorrectly sent emails on Gmail, for a limited time period after pressing Send.