At a glanceOnly group admins receive the exit notification, but your departure can still be visible in the past-members list. Leaving does not erase the conversation from everyone else’s device.
Quiet does not mean invisible
Meta announced quieter WhatsApp group exits in August 2022: the whole group would no longer receive the departure notification, while admins would still be notified. That was a change in who gets notified, not a promise that nobody can discover you left.
If a work, family or community chat needs a handover, a short message to the relevant person may still be sensible. Decide what you need to communicate before relying on the absence of a group-wide alert.
Source [1]What members can still see
WhatsApp’s member-exit guidance says admins see a departure notice and that this notice cannot be disabled. Your profile name and phone number can also appear in the past-members list for up to 60 days after you leave; visibility of your profile photo depends on your settings.
Deleting the group from your device is a separate step. It does not withdraw copies of earlier messages from other members. Treat anything already shared as information others may still have.
Source [2]Leaving and deleting are different choices
Open the group and its information screen, then look for Exit group. Read the confirmation carefully: the app can offer leaving while keeping your history or leaving and deleting your local copy. Use the official instructions below for the controls on your device.
Before choosing deletion, consider whether you still need an address, appointment, receipt or other detail from the conversation. Keeping useful records and leaving an unwanted discussion are different decisions.
Source [2]If you are the group admin
An admin deleting a group for all members follows a different process from an ordinary member leaving. WhatsApp’s admin guidance says the members must be removed first; simply leaving does not delete the group for everyone else.
For a group that should continue, arrange who will manage it before you leave. For an ordinary personal exit, use the member instructions rather than an admin’s group-deletion procedure.
Source [3]