WhatsApp announces addition of new ‘communities’ feature

WhatsApp has announced its launching a new ‘Communities’ feature to the platform later this year. 

Communities on WhatsApp will enable people to bring together different groups under one umbrella with a structure that works for them. The feature will help people receive updates sent to the entire community and also easily organise smaller discussion groups on what matters to them.

Communities will also contain powerful new tools for administrators, including announcement messages that are sent to everyone and control over which groups can be included. For example, Communities will make it easier for a school principal to bring all the parents of the school together to share must-read updates and set up groups about specific classes, extracurricular activities, or volunteer needs.

The social media platform has made a number of improvements to how groups work on WhatsApp – whether or not they are part of a community.

? We're excited to announce a new feature rolling out later this year called Communities!

With Communities, you'll be able to bring related groups together in a way that helps you organize meaningful connections easily and privately. pic.twitter.com/eatAZQCmc3

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) April 14, 2022

These are intended to enable people to share in new ways and reduce overload in larger chats. The following features are rolling out in the coming weeks so people can start trying them out even before ‘communities’ are ready.

• Reactions: Emoji reactions are being added so people can quickly share their opinion without flooding chats with new messages
• Admin Delete: Group admins will be able to remove errant or problematic messages from everyone’s chats
• File Sharing: Increase in file sharing to support files up to 2 gigabytes so people can easily collaborate on projects
• Larger voice calls: One-tap voice calling enabled for up to 32 people with all new design for those times when talking live is better than chatting

Communities are inherently private, which is why the platform will continue to protect messages with end-to-end encryption.