WhatsApp Launches Communities Feature for Users

Alex Kerai Consumer Trends Reporter

Updated 04 November 2022

WhistleOut fast facts

WhatsApp officially launched its Communities feature on November 3, after testing it since April.
The feature is intended to bring together schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and other organizations that use WhatsApp.
File sharing, emoji reactions, voice calls, and end-to-end encryption are all part of the package.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular global messaging services and is owned by Meta Platforms.

This week, WhatsApp officially launched its new feature, Communities. Originally announced back in April, the feature allows users to “communicate and coordinate within a community.” Communities does not take the place of group chats but instead allows users to manage conversations among groups in one place.

The general idea of Communities is to bring people together based on common goals. As WhatsApp explained in a statement, “Communities like neighborhoods, parents at a school, and workplaces can now connect multiple groups together under one umbrella to organize group conversations on WhatsApp.”

Communities are similar to channels and groups in workplace apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams. In fact, WhatsApp noted that many “organizations like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organizations now rely on WhatsApp to communicate securely and get things done.” With more organizations relying on WhatsApp to stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic, this new feature has the company angling for business clients and ubiquity among users.

Users are not limited to just one Community on WhatsApp. In fact, you can toggle between Communities, and admins can send push notifications for announcements.

In addition to messaging, Communities also allow emoji reactions, file sharing (up to 2GB), voice calls (with up to 32 people), in-chat polls, and admin controls for the group. Of course, Communities is built on WhatsApp's trademark secure platform.

Security is a major part of WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption in Communities ensures that “only the members of the respective groups can see [messages] and no one else.” The company also offers tools for users to report abuse and block accounts.

WhatsApp is one of the largest and most popular global messaging apps and is available on all major operating systems. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, and the app is still owned by Meta Platforms today. With WhatsApp, users can send messages, pictures, audio files, and videos along with communicating over video chat. One of the early benefits of WhatsApp was the ability to communicate across multiple phone types and operating systems along with free messaging (including international) over the internet.

“It’s early days for Communities on WhatsApp, and building the new features to support them will be a major focus of ours for the year to come,” WhatsApp said in a statement. The feature officially launched this week, and users are invited to submit feedback as they explore Communities.

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Alex Kerai

Consumer Trends Reporter

As WhistleOut's Consumer Trends Reporter, Alex keeps up on the latest breaking mobile tech news in the U.S. and Canada, from smartphone development to network shutdowns. His work can be seen on The Penny Hoarder, Business.org, Biz2Credit, and more.

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