WhatsApp has begun rolling out a new 'Communities' feature to its users in the UK today.
The Meta-owned messaging app announced the new function, which will let users organise their group chats under a single topic, back in April.
The Communities feature has been in the testing stage since then but will be rolled out to UK users from November 3.
Here's everything you need to know about the new WhatsApp feature and how you can make the most of it.
What is the new WhatsApp feature?
The new WhatsApp feature allows you to bundle several group chats together under the umbrella of a single topic.
You can then share updates, create and take part in polls across the chats.
From today, your group chats can be organised under a topic like your children’s school or the street you live on.
WhatsApp has increased its group video calling capacity to 32 participants.
In a blog post announcing the rollout, the messaging app said: “With Communities, we’re aiming to raise the bar for how organisations communicate with a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else.
“The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption.
“Once you’re in a community, you can easily switch between available groups to get the information you need, when you need it, and admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community.”
The head of WhatsApp's parent company Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, commented: “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.”
Mr Zuckerberg has also explained that a similar feature will also be introduced to Facebook, Messenger and Instagram in the future.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here