WhatsApp introduces Channels in which only the administrator can send messages

WhatsApp introduces Channels, intended for communication from a single source with a large audience. The feature will come with a searchable directory so users can find Channels to follow. Shareable Channel links will also be available.

Channels are housed in the Status tab, which is renamed Updates. In screenshots Meta suggests examples: a city council, a football club, a channel where you can learn a new language, restaurant reviews and some others. In the channels, the administrators can share everything that is also included in normal chats: text, photos, videos, stickers and polls.

WABetaInfo discovered the feature in the app’s code almost six years ago, in 2017. It’s unclear why it took so long to release such functionality. According to later data mining by WABetaInfo, users cannot see which other users are in a Channel. That would be a big difference with Telegram, where this is possible, if the administrator of the group allows it.

Meta says in the announcement that it is ‘introducing’ the function, but at the time of writing the function is not yet available on the undersigned’s Android device. Meta does not explain which region will get the function and when.