It appears that WhatsApp would soon allow users to create sub-channels under primary chat groups for separate discussions. According to a report by WABetaInfo, the Meta-owned private messaging platform is currently developing such a feature which would be known as Communities.
Similar to Discord and Slack, this new addition only allows founders and administrators to create sub-channels and add certain members of the group to them via an invitation link. On top of this, those with administrative abilities are said to also be given certain tools to manage their communities, although details regarding these are not known at this time. Unfortunately, it is also uncertain if the platform would be using a different layout for this new feature.
In terms of privacy and security, WABetaInfo says that Communities will retain WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption for all primary and subsidiary group chats. It’s also worth noting that groups with this feature enabled will be represented by a square icon, rather than a circle – making them easily distinguishable from individual and regular group chats.
While later than its competitors, Communities would be a useful addition to WhatsApp. Like Discord and Slack, this would allow certain chat group members to privately discuss specific topics away from the main chat, which is pretty handy for team meetings or event planning.
WABetaInfo expects this new feature to be rolled out in a future WhatsApp beta for both Android and iOS users, although it is not known when this would happen. Since Communities isn’t officially announced yet, let’s also not disregard the possibility that the platform may decide to not implement it at all in the end.
(Source: WABetaInfo)
