WhatsApp is expanding its channel feature to over 150 countries. The company has tested this feature to limit its regions before rolling it out globally. This differs from the existing community and group features, as it brings more privacy features for channel admins while allowing more users to join.
Additionally, this is a one-way broadcast for followers. Several users have already gained access to this new feature, including the ability to react using emojis for posts. However, users cannot see who reacted to what, and it does not show users who have followed the channels. This is designed to ensure that users’ phone numbers are not shown.
How to Use WhatsApp Channels
This feature is available to beta users and will soon roll out to more users in the coming weeks. Before proceeding, ensure that you have updated WhatsApp to the latest version.
- Open WhatsApp.
- In the bottom navigation, you will see the Update option replacing Status. Click on it to find the channel option, followed by Status.
- There, you will find channels. To view more, click the upper-right triple-dot menu and tap Find Channels.
- From there, find the channel you want to join. Once you find the channel, tap the Follow or Plus icon. You can also use the filter channels in the directory to join based on most followers, most active, and more. To join channels, users can also use the invite links.
- Similarly, if you want to unfollow, click on the tick, or from the channel, you can unfollow that channel.
- That’s it! Once you follow the channel, it will appear in the Update section.
Only a few publishers, celebrities, and brands can access this feature. Also, if any post is shared, it will likely be the original post. You can find some popular news channels like CNBC, celebrities like Katrina Kaif, publishers like Beebom, and even Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp available to follow on WhatsApp.
How to Create a WhatsApp Channel
This feature is currently limited to a few publishers and celebrities. WhatsApp is onboarding some before allowing everyone to create their WhatsApp channels. The phone number of the channel owner will not be shared to protect users’ privacy.
To create a channel:
- Open WhatsApp on your mobile device. The channel feature is available on Android, iOS, Web, and desktop.
- Go to the Updates tab, and then tap on the plus icon. Choose new channels.
- It will ask you to enter the channel name (you can later modify it according to your preferences).
- Customize your channel by adding a description and an icon.
- Tap on Create Channels.
To share your channel with your followers, open Channels and click the channel icon. After that, click on your channel. Next, go to the channel’s name and tap “Copy link.”
This feature is useful to help your community follow you, but it is also useful for WhatsApp business. However, it is recommended for WhatsApp admins who create a WhatsApp channel to enable 2FA on WhatsApp to add more security.
Note: Admins can edit their updates up to 30 days after posting. Updates will be deleted automatically. Also, it is not end-to-end encrypted.
However, some channel features, such as the ability to comment on a post, still need to be added. This is still in development, and more features are yet to be made available to WhatsApp channels in the coming months, including the ability to create channels.
This new, active, and popular feature will also be based on the number of followers. Currently, it is only available to certain individuals, and only brands will be able to create channels. However, Meta is expected to roll out this update to everyone in the coming months.