First, open WhatsApp and go to the group where there is a message that you want to privately reply to the user:
Group selection on WhatsApp
Press and hold the message in question, then click the message you want to reply to. After that, tap on the menu button in the top right corner of the screen):
Selection of the message to be answered
Select the option from the available options Reply privately:
answer menu
A reply-format message then appears in the contact’s conversation window. If you reply here, only the person you’re sending the message to will see the reply, not the whole group:
Reply in the contact’s private chat
It is important to mention that the answer bubble contains the name of the group you are about to leave, so that our interlocutor always knows what we are talking about.
This functionality first appeared in the beta version of the App in November 2018 and was launched with the idea of bringing some order to the replies to messages in the groups. It was first released for users to help out as beta testers, and finally implemented for all users given the good reception.
It’s one of those little changes that are sometimes rolled out in apps that the rest of us regular users don’t even notice unless a smart user tells us. Luckily for all of us, this feature is very straightforward and easy to use.