Channels in which only administrator can transmit

WhatsApp comes with Channels, a way of one-way communication within the messenger. Channels allow administrators to send information without cluttering the conversation with responses.

WhatsApp Channels

Channels also have a searchable database, which means it’s not so much about making a channel for a fixed group of people, it’s going to be more public. For example, you can look for a channel about Ajax or Feyenoord if you want to stay informed about what is happening at the football club, or you can create a channel from a city council where citizens can join and read what the council decides.

WhatsApp Channels will soon be found under Status, which will be renamed Updates. Other than that it looks like a normal chat with the standard arsenal of smileys, polls and other options. Meta writes: “We believe Channel Updates don’t have to be around forever, similar to how we build chat services. Therefore, we will only store channel history on our servers for a maximum of 30 days and will add ways to make updates disappear from followers’ devices even faster.”

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Privacy

In addition, it is possible for administrators to block screenshots and forwarded messages on their channel. Meta wants to make it clear that privacy plays an important role here: “If you are a channel manager, your phone number and profile picture will not be shown to followers. And if you follow a channel, your phone number will not be disclosed to the admin or other followers. You alone decide who follows you and this remains private.” Other followers themselves do not know that you are there: this is all private.

Channels had been coming for a while: WABetaInfo already wrote about it in 2017 that it encountered it in the code. Now we have to wait for it to be fully rolled out. For the time being, we only see ‘Status’ without channels in the editorial office.

Do you already see it? Do you think it’s a good idea? Leave it now in the comments.