WhatsApp Community Feature is Here; Bid Adieu to Groups

Things are not looking very good for the WhatsApp Groups feature. In the best case, you will get an alternative called WhatsApp Communities, and in the worst case, it can be replaced by the same. WhatsApp is currently working on a new feature, detected within the code of the popular encrypted messaging application during a recent APK "teardown". The new feature, called Community, may work alongside the service's popular group feature, according to reports. The feature joins the list of multiple features WhatsApp is currently working on (or testing) in the beta version of its app.

This new community feature was spotted by XDA Developers in the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android. Analysis of the APK for the beta version of WhatsApp 2.21.21.6 has revealed the code for a new community feature that could possibly offer social media functionality, separate from the group feature, according to the report. However, it could also simply be a way for users to better organize groups in the chat app, based on a WABetaInfo feature filter.

The report suggests that WhatsApp groups, which are very popular in countries like India and Brazil, could simply be a better way for users to organize groups. The feature could also allow users to host groups "within" a community, according to a report. However, this is merely speculation at this stage as the feature itself has yet to be revealed and XDA has only detected references to the feature within the app. In the meantime, the role filter says that this is unlikely to be a new role, but instead offers users a better way to handle groups in the app.

XDA had stated that having the groups next to (or below) the newly discovered community role could mean that group owners (or community owners) could select new roles for users, such as "community administrators" while getting better control over groups. Significantly, it can even allow messages to be shared in a larger community, which is something that will fill the current void.

This means that while WhatsApp can also simply rename your role from Groups to Community, according to the report, we will only know what the capabilities of the role are after the company works on the role in future versions of the app. As with many beta features in all applications, the feature may eventually be dropped due to its feasibility.