As the battle between instant messaging (IM) apps intensifies, WhatsApp continues to work on new features like unread chat filter. The Meta-owned service has been coming up with plenty of new offerings. These include privacy-related additions and an unread chat filter in the desktop client.

The latter feature, as the name suggests, allows users to hide conversations that they have already viewed from the main chat list. This leaves behind threads that they have marked as unread or haven’t viewed yet.

If you’ve been enjoying this feature on your computer but want to be able to use it on your iPhone, the wait is over.

As the screenshot above reveals, the filter button appears right next to the chat search bar. Once you click on it, all your read conversations will disappear from the list view. The addition is very useful for busy people who receive many messages every day.

We often respond to more time-sensitive conversations and leave other chats behind. Ignored chats then begin to slowly sink to the bottom of the list, only for us to forget about them altogether. Now, thanks to this button, we get a view that clearly shows which chats still need our attention.

The unread chat filter is currently being implemented via a server-side push. To increase your chances of getting it, make sure you have updated to the latest version of WhatsApp for iOS: 22.16.77.

Once it is updated unread chat filter, you will have to wait for WhatsApp to enable the feature from your side. Until then, you’ll have to be patient, as there’s no clear way to manually force the change to appear or take effect.