WhatsApp rolls out Communities, 32-person video calls, 1,024 user groups and more

WhatsApp’s long-awaited ‘Communities‘ feature has officially launched.

The feature, which is an extension of Groups, allows WhatsApp users to form sub-groups under a main community group, similar to Discord. For example, you can have a master chat/community about your organization, with sub-chats/groups consisting of individual teams within the organization.

The feature will replace the camera tab on Android devices, while the communities will appear as a new option on the bottom bar in iOS devices.

“Once you’re in a community, you can easily switch between available groups to get the information you need, when you need it, and admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community,” reads WhatsApp’s blog about the feature.

Within Communities, and normal groups, users would now also be able to create in-chat polls, initiate 32-person video calls, and form groups with up to 1,024 users, all while keeping chats completely end-to-end encrypted. “With Communities, we’re aiming to raise the bar for how organizations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else,” says WhatsApp. “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.”

Communities and all the accompanying features are rolling out now, and are expected to be available to all users globally “over the next few months.”

Learn more about WhatsApp Communities here.

Image credit: WhatsApp

Source: WhatsApp