What do new members see when they join a chat?

Admins choose whether new members get full history or only messages from the day they join. It's set per invite, not per chat.

New members don't automatically see everything

When you create a new link to join a chat in Pigeon, you choose what they can see: Full history from the start of the chat, or only messages from the time they join going forward. This is set individually at the moment the new link is created and based on your subscription plan.

• Free plan - if you are on the Free plan, this setting is disabled. Every link you create allow new chat members to only see the chat messages from the point they join the chat going forward.
• Pro plan - if you are on the Pro plan, this setting is optional. You can choose to create a new link to join the chat and share all chat history with anyone who uses the link, or leave the setting off and the new chat members can only see the chat messages from the point they join going forward.

For more details on the plan options, visit Settings > Plan in the app or see our Pricing page for more details.

To invite new members to a chat, you need to start a new chat or be an admin within an existing chat.

To learn more about what admins can do, see How do admin controls work in Pigeon?

The two options

This setting is a simple toggle when you create a new link for an existing chat. Here's what happens when you select each option.

Chat history on — new members who use this link can see everything sent in the chat from the very first message. Use this for new chat members who need full history and context about what was said before they joined.

Chat history off — new members who use this link can only see messages sent after they joined. All messages sent before they joined are not visible. Use this for chat members who shouldn't have access to previous messages but are now needed as part of the chat.

Why this matters

Group management is important and this ability gives you the option to choose what to share to new members of your chats. Whether it's an old friend who just downloaded the Pigeon app, a new client joining an existing project chat, or a new team member joining your internal chat, you get to choose every time.