WhatsApp played a big role in making one-on-one messaging andgroup chatsover the internet seem as convenient as they do today. However, needs for communication evolve, and WhatsApp recently started facilitating even larger group interactions throughCommunities. Notably, the app still lacks a scalable method for one-to-many communication, even thoughTelegramhas had Channels for many years now. Now, we have more clarity on WhatsApp’s upcoming feature of the same name.
Following astring of reportsspotting the feature in development,WABetaInfohas discovered a new prompt educating users about Channels, prepped for when it drops. The prompt appears in beta version 2.23.10.14 of the messaging app available on the Play Store.
WhatsApp specifies that there’s no predetermined cap on the number of members a Channel can have. The prompt also explains this feature can be used to share news, events, and other information with a large audience. Meanwhile, the members of a Channel won’t see the sender’s phone number, ensuring the latter’s privacy stays intact. Interestingly, WhatsApp’s popup doesn’t say if communication in channels will be end-to-end encrypted or not.
An additional screenshot from WABetaInfo clarifies that updates from channels will show up under the ephemeral status updates from your contacts. To accommodate this change, WhatsApp will rename theStatustab toUpdates. Together these two changes give us a clear understanding of how Channels will operate on WhatsApp.
Channels are a great first step towards full-fledged one-to-many messaging on WhatsApp. The system should be a boon for businesses trying to communicate with customers, or for government and private entities looking to broadcast information to interested parties. Until now, these purposes were fulfilled byephemeral status updates, and multiple limited-participant group chats where only the admins (usually the broadcasters) could send messages. Now, we just need to wait for Channels to roll out officially on the stable version of WhatsApp.
