WhatsApp’s Communities feature has begun open beta testing. Communities, described as a significant advancement of WhatsApp by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is now available to Android beta users with version 2.22.19.3 of the messaging app. In a few of weeks, there should be a public rollout.
Since over a year ago, WhatsApp has been working on its Communities feature. It enables you to combine numerous smaller groups under a single larger group. Large enterprises and educational institutions can now communicate with their staff or students more easily thanks to this function. For instance, a school may have separate communities for each class as well as one big community for all parents and guardians. For simple communication, admins can locate all of these communities and groups in one location.
Along with Chats, Status, and Calls, the WhatsApp app will also have a dedicated page for Communities. The Camera tab on the far left will be replaced by it. Within a Community, you can create up to ten groups with a total of 512 members each. Depending on their preferences, members of one group can transfer to another group within the Community. A group can be left without the individual leaving the neighborhood.
Advertisement A group is automatically formed under a Community you create on WhatsApp. Community administrators can post messages to this group, which serves as the announcement group. Everyone in the Community can see these messages.
Communities for WhatsApp was formally introduced by Zuckerberg in April of this year after being first discovered in development in November of previous year. The CEO of Meta announced the new functionality would gradually be made available to users over the ensuing months in his announcement article. Communities is now available to Android beta users as of version rolling out , more than four months after the introduction. If all goes according to plan, WhatsApp might soon make the function accessible to everyone worldwide.
YOUR PHONE NUMBER WILL BE HIDDEN BY WHATSAPP IN COMMUNITIES Communities are a little different from the current WhatsApp groups. In contrast to the former, which is typically used for communication with close friends and contacts, the latter can include strangers. WhatsApp will conceal your phone number from Community members with whom you do not share a group in order to protect your privacy. By default, this function will be on, but you can turn it off if you don’t feel comfortable giving anyone your phone number.
Advertisement However, you cannot disguise your phone number in the initial beta release. It seems that WhatsApp is not yet ready with it. Later releases ought to incorporate it. We’ll keep an eye on any changes involving WhatsApp Communities and let you know as soon as we have more details.
