A new feature “Communities” has been spotted in development for WhatsApp. By the looks of it, the feature could be a variation of the current implementation of WhatsApp groups.

First spotted by XDA-Developers, WABetaInfo has published and provided more information on the currently-in-development feature. It claims Communities will be available to WhatsApp beta users on both Android and iOS in an upcoming update. A Community could also help administrators collate all the groups they manage. Communities are also expected to be a new place where group administrators would have more control over groups on WhatsApp. For instance, a Discord server would be the equivalent of a Community, while Discord channels will be like chat groups within said community. It is also protected by end-to-end encryption. Interestingly, the icons for communities are squares with rounded corners instead of circular icons like groups.

A screenshot of the Community feature shared by WABetaInfo

Presently, there is no information about the additional tools for administrators that a Community would bring. However, it is known that users can be added manually or can join using “Community Invite Link” shared by the administrator privately or publicly.

Despite its size and immense user base, WhatsApp is slow to add features compared to other rival instant messaging platforms. For instance, several messaging apps allow seamless chat backup and synchronization across Android and iOS, but WhatsApp very recently allowed iOS users to migrate their chats to Android. For now, the feature is limited to Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices. Another feature introduced after other messaging platforms is the ability to encrypt cloud backups.

Do note that “Community” is still under development and its final appearance, feature set, and function could be significantly revamped before it is released to beta testers. Do you think this would simplify the management of WhatsApp groups or would it just complicate matters further? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!