14 DAY TRIAL // WhatsApp has just announced another big new feature that’s now rolling out to users worldwide. Communities, an update that was announced earlier this year, bring multiple groups under the same roof, therefore making it easier for users to manage the communities they are part of.
“Communities like neighborhoods, parents at a school, and workplaces can now connect multiple groups together under one umbrella to organize group conversations on WhatsApp. To get started, tap on the new communities tab at the top of your chats on Android and at the bottom on iOS. From there you can start a new Community from scratch or add existing groups,” WhatsApp explains.
The new feature makes it possible to connect related groups and then keep everybody informed on the things that matter using a single announcement group.
And of course, given all these related groups are living under the same roof, it should theoretically be much easier to jump from one group to another, especially given they are focused on the same topics.
“With Communities, we’re aiming to raise the bar for how organizations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else. The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages - and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption,” WhatsApp says.
Today’s update also includes other WhatsApp goodies, including a new feature that allows users to create in-chat polls. This is something that users have been requesting for a long time, especially in large group chats.
And speaking of group chats, WhatsApp now allows video calls with up to 32 users, as well as a maximum of 1024 users in groups. File sharing up to 2GB and support for admin to remove certain messages make group chats even more helpful, especially for organizations relying on this feature.