WhatsApp starts rolling out Communities on Android, iOS, web globally: All you need to know about it

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg today announced WhatsApp will start rolling out the much-awaited Communities features to its users across the globe on Android, iOS and on web starting today. He also said that Communities will be available to all WhatsApp users around the world over the coming months.

It is worth noting that WhatsApp had first announced Communities on its platform earlier this year. However, at the time the company had said that it was still building the feature and that it will be available to WhatsApp users later this year. Now, six months later, the company has finally started rolling out Communities to all its users globally.

“Today we’re launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We’re also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All secured by end-to-end-encryption, so your messages stay private,” Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg said on the occasion.

For the unversed, a WhatsApp Community is like a group that houses multiple groups inside. Users can create a community of a particular residential apartments with individual builds as groups or they can have a community of a college with individual courses as groups.

As far as the usage is concerned, WhatsApp said that users can tap on the new Communities tab at the top of their chats on Android and at the bottom on iOS to access this functionality. From here, users will be able to start a new Community from scratch or add existing groups. The company also said that when users have joined a community, they will be able to switch between available groups to get the information they need, when they need it. Additionally, community admins will be able to send important updates to everyone in the Community.

Notably, WhatsApp users can add up to 50 groups in addition to the announcement group. They can also add up to 5,000 members to a community announcement group.

How to create a community on Android

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your Android smartphone and the tap More options.

Step 2: Now tap the New Community option.

Step 3: Enter the Community name, description, and profile photo. The Community name limit is 24 characters.

Step 4: Tap the green arrow icon to add existing groups or create a new group.

Step 5: To add groups to your community, tap Create New Group or Add Existing Groups.

— Once you tap the Create New Group option, enter the group subject. Users can create up to 10 new groups.
— Once you tap Add Existing Groups option, you will be able to add groups that you are currently an admin of to your community. Select which groups to add then tap the green arrow icon.

Step 6: When finished adding groups to your community, tap the green check mark icon.

How to create a community on iOS

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your iPhone and then tap New Chat option.

Step 2: Next, tap the New Community and then tap Get Started.

Step 3: Now enter the Community name, description, and profile photo.

Step 4: Tap Next to add existing groups or create a new group.

Step 5: You can either Create New Group or Add Existing Groups.

— Once you tap the Create New Group option, enter the group subject.
— Once you tap Add Existing Groups option, select which groups to add then tap the green arrow icon.

Step 6: When finished adding groups to your community, tap Create.

How to invite people to your WhatsApp Community

Community admins can invite people to join their community by sharing a link with them. To share a Community invite link, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Open the WhatsApp Community.

Step 2: Tap on the Community name and then Invite members.

Step 3: Tap the More options and then tap Invite members.

Step 4: From the options available, choose how you like to share the community invite link.

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