As you all know, WhatsApp is one of the biggest and most popular instant messaging (IM) apps worldwide. Billions of people depend on the Meta-owned service to contact their loved ones for free. We also utilize it to reach businesses, get deliveries, and provide customer support. Despite its slow development when compared to some of its rivals — like Telegram — WhatsApp continues to dominate several regions across the globe. One of the very basic features this IM app offers is group chats.
WhatsApp has now officially announced that it’s bringing several improvements to groups. These include Message Reactions, larger file sharing, and other additions we’ve been hearing about for months. The company has also teased Communities — an upcoming tool that will make managing several groups easier.
We’re excited to announce that reactions are coming to WhatsApp starting with 👍❤️😂😮😢🙏 and with all emojis and skin-tones to come. pic.twitter.com/086JnVS5Ey
— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) April 14, 2022
WhatsApp announced today in a blog post that it is bringing several improvements to group chats. These include Communities — a feature that the company will be releasing later this year. When it sees the light of day, this addition will allow users to combine several relevant groups in a way that makes sense to them. WhatsApp states:
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. Communities will also contain powerful new tools for admins, including announcement messages that are sent to everyone and control over which groups can be included.
Apart from Communities, WhatsApp has revealed several new features coming to group chats. The additions are:
- Larger file sharing — up to 2GB.
- Message Reactions — starting with six emoji and expanding to include all emoji down the road.
- Message deletion privileges for admins — allowing them to delete a message sent by any member for all users.
- Larger voice calls — a new dedicated button will allow up to 32 people to join a voice call in a group chat.
It’s unclear when these features will roll out for users, but we expect to see them very soon. Users interested in Communities, though, might have to wait for a few months — as this particular feature is coming later this year.
Which of these new features is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source: WhatsApp