WhatsApp Android Beta With Feature to Create Communities Rolling Out: Report

WhatsApp has only enabled the feature for a limited number of beta testers, according to a feature tracker.

By Siddhant Chandra | Updated: 24 August 2022 01:16 IST

WhatsApp Android Beta With Feature to Create Communities Rolling Out: Report

Photo Credit: Reuters

WhatsApp communities tab replaces the camera tab on the top left corner of the app

Highlights

WhatsApp communities can house up to 10 sub-groups
Each sub-group is believed to support up to 512 participants
WhatsApp may allow community admins to disable a community

WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a new update for Android smartphones that offers the ability to create communities. The feature is said to be available to a limited number of beta testers at the moment. The Meta-owned communication platform was previously spotted working on a communities tab. This upcoming feature is said to allow WhatsApp users to create ‘communities' that can host up to 10 sub-groups with up to 512 participants in each sub-group.

According to a report by WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo, the WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.22.19.3 brings the ability to create a community. This feature is currently available to a limited number of beta testers, as per the report.

The WhatsApp communities feature was enabled for some users on the latest Android beta
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

This update reportedly replaces the camera tab on the top left corner of the app with the communities tab. This tab is said to allow users to create a community with up to 10 sub-groups, according to the feature tracker, while a sub-group is said to be capable of supporting up to 512 participants.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The report further mentions that community members can select a sub-group of their choosing when they join a new community. They are reportedly also allowed to leave sub-groups without leaving the community. Community admins are understood to have the ability to disable a community. This update reportedly also allows members to report a community to WhatsApp.

WhatsApp reportedly automatically creates an announcement group when a user creates a new community. This group can purportedly be used by community admins to share messages that are always visible to all members of the community.

WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.22.19.2 is reportedly also compatible with the communities feature. However, users are said to be capable of joining communities if the feature is enabled for their accounts. Even after installing the compatible updates, users might not be able to join communities even after being added by a community admin, according to WABetaInfo.

WhatsApp Beta Gets Ability to View Status Updates in Chat List: Report

As per a recent report, WhatsApp is also working on a feature that would allow users to hide their phone numbers from specific WhatsApp sub-groups of a community, via a setting that is expected to be available once the feature is rolled out to all users.

The Chromecast with Google TV that runs on Android TV is here. When will Google learn how to name products? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.