WhatsApp update adds new features for groups from today

Meta says the new communities feature coming to WhatsApp has been made with neighbourhoods, workplace teams and parents at the same school in mind.

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It’s been a while since the original announcement in April, but WhatsApp’s Communities are now live.

In a blog post, the company said that Communities are starting to roll out on WhatsApp globally, but they will be available to everyone “over the next few months” (I’ve checked my WhatsApp apps and I don’t yet see the feature).

Communities are super-groups which can unite multiple groups and users over one topic. WhatsApp suggests that the feature would work best for neighborhoods, parents at a school, and workplaces.

WhatsApp increases group size to 1,024 people

If you did get the feature in your WhatsApp, you’ll see a new “Communities” tab on top (on Android) or at the bottom (on iOS). You can then start a new Community or add existing groups to a Community you’ve previously created.

WhatsApp points out that Communities are protected by end-to-end encryption, which is not the case with Slack and Discord, for example.

WhatsApp has also added larger files and larger groups to the mix. WhatsApp also recently added a few new unrelated features, including the ability to create polls. Groups have also been expanded to accommodate as many as 1,024 users, and video calls can now host 32 people.