The feature is currently under development.
A WhatsApp Channel is a private tool where phone numbers and user information joining a channel are always kept hidden.
The Meta-owned instant messaging application WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new one-to-many tool called ‘Channels’ for broadcasting information. With the channels feature, users will easily be able to receive useful updates from people they choose to get news from. The feature is currently under development and it will be available in a future update of the app.
“Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS 23.8.0.75 update available on the TestFlight app, we discovered that WhatsApp is also working on bringing this feature to the iOS app in the future,” WABetaInfo, a website that tracks WhatsApp, reported.
According to the screenshots shared by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is planning to rename the Status tab to “Updates” as channels will also be listed within this section of the app. A WhatsApp Channel is a private tool where phone numbers and user information joining a channel are always kept hidden.
However, messages received within a channel are not end-to-end encrypted since the concept of one-to-many wouldn’t make much sense for channels. It is important to note that channels won’t affect the end-to-end encryption of private messaging, which continues to be end-to-end encrypted.
Since this is an optional extension of private messaging and doesn’t pivot to a public social network, people always have control over which channels they want to subscribe to, and no one else can see whom they follow, regardless of whether they’ve added them as contacts or not, the report said.
In addition, people won’t get auto-subscribed to channels as there are no algorithmic recommendations or social graphs pushing content to users that they didn’t choose to see.
According to the report, channels will also support handles, so users can search for a specific WhatsApp channel by simply entering its username within WhatsApp.
This feature is designed to improve the accessibility of channels, making it easier for users to get updates that they prefer. Channels are currently under development and they will be released in a future update of WhatsApp.
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