WhatsApp’s August rollout added the two features every family group and weekend-trip planner has been asking for: an @all mention that pings every member at once, and polls that finally let you pick more than one option, close early, and see who voted for what. Coverage from Softonic on 2026-08-04 confirmed the update is landing globally over the following weeks. That still leaves a gap. Polls and mentions are only half the group organization job, and different group types (a small climbing crew, a 400-person Discord community, a work Slack, a school parents chat) need different tools. These are the seven best apps for group chat polls and mentions on Android in 2026, ranked by how well each handles the vote-and-decide moment on a phone.
What to look for in a group chat poll app
Four things separate the useful group tools from the ones you tolerate. Poll depth matters most: single-choice vs multi-choice, deadlines, anonymous voting, and the ability to close the poll early once quorum is reached. Mention granularity is second: an @all that ignores muted people is not really @all, and a mention that spams a 400-person server without a role filter is worse. Third, a good group app makes the poll findable a week later — pinned messages, per-topic threads, and searchable poll history. And finally, the group app has to survive the 44x44 target sizes and 360 px width of a mid-range Android phone, which not every chat app does when the poll expands to eight options.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Poll type | Free plan | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family and small friend groups | Multi-choice, deadlines, closable | Yes, no ads | @all + individual |
|
| Telegram | Public communities and hobby groups | Multi-choice, anonymous, quizzes | Yes, no ads | @all, @admins, individual |
| Signal | Privacy-first small groups | Simple emoji reaction polls | Yes, no ads | @all, individual |
| Discord | Large communities and gaming | Native poll + third-party bots | Yes, no ads | Roles + @here + @everyone |
| Microsoft Teams | Work teams on Microsoft 365 | Forms polls, live quizzes | With Microsoft 365 | @team, @channel, @person |
| Slack | Small-to-mid workplaces | Polly, Simple Poll add-ons | Yes, capped history | @channel, @here, @person |
| Doodle | Scheduling only, cross-platform | Meeting time polls | Yes, one poll at a time | Email invites |
The 7 best group chat poll and mention apps
1. WhatsApp — best for family and small friend groups
WhatsApp is the group thread most people already live in on Android, and the August poll refresh brings the two missing features onto the platform where 2 billion people already coordinate weekly. Polls now support multi-select, an optional deadline, and closing early once the majority votes. @all mentions ping the whole group with one keystroke, and admins can now organize members into subgroups without spinning up a second chat.
Group calls hit 32 people, disappearing messages default to 24 hours, and the whole thing runs end-to-end encrypted. For the group where half the members are your parents’ generation, WhatsApp is where the poll actually gets seen.
Where it falls short: No proper threaded replies (everything is inline), no anonymous poll option, and channel discovery still favours large brand accounts over community groups. Search inside a 5,000-message family thread is still slow on a mid-range phone.
Pricing:
- Free with no ads.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web, Windows, macOS.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: The default. Skip only if the group needs anonymous polls or the members are already on something else.
2. Telegram — best for public communities and hobby groups
Telegram has offered polls since 2018 and it shows. The poll composer lets you pick between regular multi-select, anonymous voting (nobody sees who picked what), a quiz mode with a correct answer, and a public results view where the count updates live. Supergroups scale to 200,000 members without the poll UI wobbling. Mentions are equally deep: @all inside a topic, @admins for moderation, and per-user pings that respect the recipient’s mute status.
Topic groups let a running community split into pinned sub-threads (Announcements, Meetups, Off-topic) so a poll doesn’t drown in unrelated chatter. Cloud sync means switching from an older phone to a new Android device rebuilds the whole history in seconds.
Where it falls short: Only Secret Chats are end-to-end encrypted; standard groups use client-server encryption instead. Discovery still exposes some spammy public channels near the top of search. The Android app’s data usage climbs fast in image-heavy hobby groups.
Pricing:
- Free with no ads on standard accounts.
- Telegram Premium unlocks longer captions, faster downloads, and voice-to-text.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: The best poll depth on any consumer messenger. Pick this for hobby groups, book clubs, and anything above ~50 people.
3. Signal — best for privacy-first small groups
Signal does not have Telegram’s poll depth, but the 2026 refresh added a lightweight reaction-vote pattern that works for quick decisions: send a message with the options as emoji, and members tap-react to vote. Combined with @all mentions and the group admin controls added last year, Signal covers the “where should we eat?” thread without pulling in a third-party bot.
Everything is end-to-end encrypted by default, groups scale to 1,000 members, and the Android build stays lean even on low-RAM phones. For the group that cares about metadata leaking, Signal is the honest choice.
Where it falls short: No native structured poll composer, so complex votes still need a Doodle link. Groups over ~200 members feel sluggish. Phone-number identifiers make it harder to keep a work-vs-personal split.
Pricing:
- Free, donation-funded, no ads.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: Pick this if privacy matters more than poll UI depth. The emoji-reaction pattern works for most everyday votes.
4. Discord — best for large communities and gaming
Discord rolled out native polls in 2024 and they have grown up: multi-choice, deadlines, and an anonymous mode that hides voter identity even from admins. Combined with Discord’s role system, a 5,000-member community can @Voters-Only on a poll without pinging the lurkers. Third-party bots like Simple Poll and Statbot extend the built-in system with quizzes, per-role weighting, and Google Sheets export.
Voice channels, threads inside a channel, and the always-on presence indicator make Discord the pick for any group where “who is around right now?” is part of the coordination.
Where it falls short: The Android app is a chat client bolted onto a desktop-first product, and long threads still need horizontal swiping to read. @everyone and @here are easy to misfire in a big server. Nitro upsells creep into more places every quarter.
Pricing:
- Free tier covers polls, mentions, and voice channels.
- Nitro Basic and Nitro add file-upload limits, higher-quality streams, and custom emoji.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: The right pick above ~100 members, especially for gaming and hobby communities where roles do the mention-filtering job.
5. Microsoft Teams — best for work teams on Microsoft 365
Microsoft Teams is where the workplace group chat lives if the company already runs Microsoft 365, and its polling story is deeper than the free tier of most messengers. Forms polls attach directly to a channel post with multi-choice, quiz mode, anonymous responses, and a results dashboard that syncs to Excel. Live-event polls hit hundreds of participants during a meeting without a separate tool.
Channel mentions (@channel, @team, per-person) respect Teams’ notification preferences, so the muted-during-lunch member is not woken up. On Android, the mobile app supports scheduled Send-later, meeting join from lock screen, and viewing shared OneDrive files without a browser round-trip.
Where it falls short: Requires a Microsoft 365 subscription (personal Basic tier or a work licence). The Android build eats RAM. Setting up a poll still takes an extra tap through the Forms picker rather than being a first-class message action.
Pricing:
- Free tier for small groups with basic chat and video.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic and higher unlock full Teams polls, Forms integration, and admin controls.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Web.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: The natural pick when the group is a work team already on Microsoft 365, especially for Forms-based quizzes and live polls in meetings.
6. Slack — best for small-to-mid workplaces
Slack does not ship a first-party poll composer, and that turns out to be a feature: the Polly and Simple Poll add-ons handle the job better than most native systems. Polly supports scheduled recurring polls (weekly retros, monthly demos), multi-question surveys, and results export to a Google Sheet. Simple Poll adds anonymous voting and inline results.
Slack’s mention model is precise: @channel pings everyone in a channel, @here only pings active members, and personal mentions respect Do Not Disturb. Huddles let a poll roll into a quick voice discussion without opening a calendar invite.
Where it falls short: The free tier now caps history to 90 days, which erases older polls unless you export them. Add-on billing stacks fast on a paid workspace. Android push notifications occasionally lag behind desktop.
Pricing:
- Free with 90 days of message history and 10 integrations.
- Pro plan unlocks unlimited history and unlimited add-ons.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: Pick this for a workplace where the group is under 500 people and you want the polling flexibility of Polly on top of the messenger.
7. Doodle — best for scheduling polls only, cross-platform
Doodle does one thing, meeting-time polls, and it does it better than any of the chat-first tools on this list. Create a poll with proposed dates and time slots, share the link inside WhatsApp or Telegram, and Doodle handles the voting UI, time-zone conversion, and reminder emails. Everyone can respond without installing the app.
The Android app adds group calendar sync (Google, Outlook, iCloud) so you can see conflicts before proposing a slot, and the paid tier unlocks unlimited polls plus a personal booking page.
Where it falls short: Not a messenger. You still need somewhere to send the link. The free tier limits you to one active poll at a time. The Android UI is a straightforward wrapper around the web app rather than a native experience.
Pricing:
- Free tier with one active poll.
- Pro from around $6/month for unlimited polls.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web.
Download: Aptoide · Google Play
Bottom line: The complement, not the replacement. Send the Doodle link from whichever messenger the group already uses.
How to pick the right one
If the group is family or close friends and already lives on WhatsApp, use the new WhatsApp polls; there is no upside to moving. If the group is a hobby community above 50 people, Telegram’s poll depth and topic groups pay off within a week. Pick Signal when the group is small and privacy matters more than polling ergonomics. For a gaming or open community above a few hundred, Discord’s role-scoped mentions are worth the desktop-first UI.
If it is a work group, Microsoft Teams wins if the company already pays for Microsoft 365, and Slack + Polly wins if the workplace is smaller and history-hungry. Any of the above pair well with Doodle when the specific decision is a meeting time and you need people outside the messenger to vote.
FAQ
Does WhatsApp’s @all mention wake up muted members?
No. Muted members still receive the mention in the group but their notification preferences are respected, matching how personal mentions have always worked.
What is the best free group poll app that does not need an account? Doodle. You can create a scheduling poll and share the link; voters respond in a browser without installing anything or signing in.
Can I make an anonymous poll on WhatsApp? Not natively. Vote counts are visible per-option but each vote is attributed to the member. For anonymous voting on Android use Telegram’s anonymous poll mode or Discord’s anonymous poll option instead.
Do Slack’s Polly and Simple Poll work on the Android app? Yes. Polls created on desktop appear correctly inside the Android Slack client, and members can vote from mobile with the same tap-to-vote UI as on desktop.
Which app handles the largest groups? Telegram supergroups scale to 200,000 members with polls working across the whole group. Discord communities regularly run past 500,000 members with native polls and role-scoped mentions.
Does Signal have a native poll builder? Not yet. The workaround is a message that lists options as numbered emoji; members react with the matching emoji to vote. It works for small groups but does not scale to formal decisions.
