Anyone who uses WhatsApp is bound to be – or to have been – part of a WhatsApp group at some point. Be it a group of their school, class, college, gym, office, club, or the more personal ones made by friends, cousins, and family – groups are integral to the platform. They keep people living miles away connected with one another through chats, memes, and stickers. And if you can feel like a part of a group even if you’re not physically near your loved ones, isn’t that a great feeling?
Groups are made for lighthearted leg-pulling, pranking, and sharing of embarrassing pictures and videos. However, when these pranks get too serious, there could be that hot-tempered group member who’d whimsically exit the group.
And when such a thing happens, you’d want to immediately add them back and coax them into a good mood. But will WhatsApp allow you to do that? That’s exactly what we’re to explore today. Sit tight to get all the answers about fixing the issue of not being able to add a group member after they left recently.
Why are you facing this error on WhatsApp?
We understand that you’re here because you face an error on WhatsApp that you’d like resolved right away, and we’re all for helping you in the task.
However, it’s a great practice to address a problem by digging into its roots; it helps one avoid a problem in the future as well.
So, the problem at hand is this message that you probably got as you were attempting to make a group member re-join it after they left recently:
You couldn’t add because they left the group recently.
Try again later.
Now, since you’re trying add them after they left, one of the two scenarios could be true:
1. They weren’t actually trying to leave but did so accidentally.
2. They did leave the group intentionally over a small conflict or quarrel, and you want to bring them back.
Either way, you’d be wondering what’s the issue in re-adding them; after all, as an admin, you should be able to add anyone you want, right? Well, there are certain rules in that case as well.
Because leaving and re-joining groups too often stands out as a suspicious activity to the WhatsApp bot, they take preventative methods against it.
This is why, when you leave any WhatsApp group for the first time, you’ll need to wait for a cooling period of 24 hours before being re-added by the admin.
Furthermore, this wait isn’t stagnant either. It keeps increasing with every exit, and can even extend up to 81 days! If you were careless about leaving groups earlier, take this as your wake-up call.
How to Fix “You Couldn’t Add Because They Left The Group Recently Try Again Later” on Whatsapp?
Now is the time to talk about fixes.
The first and most obvious fix to your problem is patience. As we discussed above, you’re going to face this error only for the next 24 hours, after which you’d be able to add them seamlessly.
So, if there is no emergency to add them right away, we’d suggest simply waiting it out. However, if you absolutely want to add them back right away, there is a method to accomplish that – the invite link feature.
WhatsApp had launched invite links to make the process of joining groups easier for all users, and it can rescue you in this scenario as well.
Just follow this step-by-step guide, and you’ll be done in a minute:
Step 1: Launch WhatsApp on your smartphone.
On the Chats tab you first land on, scroll through all your conversations until you find that particular group chat.
Alternatively, you could also use the search bar on top to find it more quickly.
Step 2: Upon finding the chat, give it a tap to launch it in full display.
Here, can you find the group name mentioned on the top of the screen, right next to the thumbnail of the group display picture? You need to tap on this name here.
Step 3: As soon as you do that, you’ll be taken to the Group Info page.
Followed by the display picture of the group, you’ll find options like Custom notifications and Media visibility.
Keep scrolling down until you find the Participants list. It is below this list that you’ll find the Invite Via Link option.
When you find this option, click on it, and you’ll find the link generated on your screen. Now, you can either share it directly from here or copy it and paste it to the chat window of the person you want to re-add.
Either way, as soon as they click on the link, they should be able to re-join it.
A quick recap
As we approach the end of our blog, let’s quickly revisit everything new we learned together. Our conversation started from group chats on WhatsApp and how to re-add someone who left within 24 hours.
Then, we learned about how WhatsApp has added a restriction on re-joining groups and why. Ultimately, we learned about the invite link trick, using which you can let someone in a group without having to wait.
Is there anything else about WhatsApp group that you lack clarity about? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll try to resolve it at the earliest.
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