The mega-popular instant messaging app WhatsApp is likely working on a new feature that should allow group administrators to create a “community,” a more secure and private place that can link together up to ten chats. The community will have a name and a description by which users will be able to locate it and will be protected by end-to-end encryption. Administrators will have enhanced moderation control over the groups included in the community and will be able to invite users here via a link.
Once it is out, WhatsApp Communities should greatly simplify things for admins, helping them effectively handle many groups. It will be done by bringing all such groups together at a single location where administrators will be able to contact all their members at once. They will also have the option to decide who can post to the group and who can’t or limit the messaging capability to only themselves. When users leave the community, they will no longer be allowed to see the content published in related groups; meanwhile, those who join the community for the first time will not be able to view previously unrelated groups.
The feature should be handy for creators and businesses, making it easier to form a community of people with similar interests. In this way, the company or creator will get a chance to increase the reach of their products or content with much less effort.
It is not yet clear when WhatsApp might roll out the Communities feature for regular iOS and Android users as the functionality is still under development. However, it reportedly has already been made available to WhatsApp beta testers for iOS 22.4.0.75.
What do you think of the new “Community” feature in WhatsApp? Would you like to try it? Any meaningful discussion is welcome here, so feel free to comment below!
