WhatsApp announces Communities, extends file size and more. Details

“Communities on WhatsApp will enable people to bring together separate groups under one umbrella with a structure that works for them. That way people can receive updates sent to the entire Community and easily organize smaller discussion groups on what matters to them,” wrote WhatsApp in a blog post.

With reactions feature people can instantly react to messages with emoji by long pressing the chat. The 2GB file sharing will help people to use WhatsApp more effectively saving time and efforts of switching to multiple apps for the resizing. Currently, WhatsApp only allows 100MB file sharing in one go.

With the large voice calls feature 32 people can join together at a time with a new design interface.

Communities will contain new tools for admins, including announcement messages that are sent to everyone and control over which groups can be included, it said.

WhatsApp said, “Organizations like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organizations now rely on WhatsApp to communicate securely and get things done – especially since the pandemic forced us all to find creative ways to work together while apart.”

“We think Communities will make it easier for a school principal to bring all the parents of the school together to share must-read updates and set up groups about specific classes, extracurricular activities, or volunteer needs.”

These features are rolling out in the coming weeks so people can start trying them out even before Communities are ready.

Communities messages will be protected with end-to-end encryption. 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, said WhatsApp.