Introducing WhatsApp Channels: Your Private Gateway to Stay Informed

Introducing WhatsApp Channels: Your Private Gateway to Stay Informed

We are thrilled to introduce WhatsApp Channels, a secure, user-friendly, and confidential platform that allows you to receive crucial updates from individuals and organizations, right within your WhatsApp application. We've introduced a dedicated tab known as "Updates" where you can access both Status updates and the channels you choose to follow. This tab is separate from your personal chats with family, friends, and communities.

WhatsApp Channels serve as a one-way broadcasting tool that enables administrators to share text, images, videos, stickers, and polls with their audience. To make it easier for you to discover channels that match your interests, we are developing a searchable directory where you can find updates related to hobbies, sports teams, local news, and more. Additionally, you can join a channel through invite links shared in chats, emails, or online posts.

Our primary goal is to create the most private broadcasting service available. To achieve this, we have implemented robust privacy measures. As a channel administrator, your phone number and profile photo will remain confidential and won't be visible to your followers. Similarly, following a channel will not disclose your phone number to the administrator or other followers. The decision of who you follow remains entirely private.

In line with our approach to messaging, we believe that channel updates don't need to linger forever. Consequently, we will store channel history on our servers for a maximum of 30 days, and we are actively working on options to make updates disappear even more rapidly from followers' devices. Moreover, administrators will have the ability to block screenshots and forwards within their channels.

Furthermore, we are putting control in the hands of administrators, allowing them to decide who can follow their channel and whether they want their channel to be discoverable in the directory. While channels are not end-to-end encrypted by default, we are exploring the possibility of introducing end-to-end encrypted channels for select audiences in the future, such as nonprofit organizations or health institutions.

To kickstart WhatsApp Channels, we are excited to collaborate with prominent global voices and select organizations in Colombia and Singapore, where Channels will initially be available. This collaborative effort will enable us to learn, adapt, and enhance the user experience. We are committed to expanding Channels to more countries and allowing everyone to create their own channels in the coming months.

Additionally, we see an opportunity to support channel administrators in building businesses around their channels by leveraging our expanding payment services and promoting select channels in the directory to boost their visibility.

While WhatsApp Channels represents an important step forward, we want to reassure our users that our core focus remains on private messaging among friends, family, and communities. We believe that the time is right to introduce this straightforward, dependable, and private broadcasting tool, and we look forward to you enjoying it in the months and years ahead.

Important Note: WhatsApp Channels is currently in the process of rolling out, and it may not be available to everyone at this time. You can join the waitlist to receive notifications when WhatsApp Channels becomes accessible to you. Please be aware that in regions where Channels is available, new features may be introduced gradually, and some functionalities, such as channel creation, may not be accessible to all users immediately.

Here's a guide on how to create and customize your WhatsApp Channel:

Creating Your WhatsApp Channel:

Ensure you have a WhatsApp account and that it's updated to the latest version.

Open WhatsApp Web and navigate to Channels by clicking on the Channels icon.

Click on the + symbol, then select "Create channel."

Follow the onscreen prompts by clicking "Continue."

Provide a name for your channel to complete the creation process. You can change the channel name later if needed.

Customize your channel (optional):

• Add a channel description: Write a brief description to help potential followers understand the purpose of your channel.
• Add a channel icon: Enhance your channel's visibility by uploading an image from your phone or the web.

Click "Create channel" to finalize the setup process.

Sharing Your Channel:

Now that your channel is set up, you can start sharing updates. To share your channel with others, you can find and share a link to your channel from the channel info page:

Open Channels by clicking the Channels icon.

Select your channel, and then click on your channel name.

Click "Copy link" to obtain a link to your channel, which you can share with potential followers.

Additional Security Measures:

To enhance the security of your channel, consider enabling two-step verification for the WhatsApp account associated with your channel, as well as for the accounts of any administrators you may have.

If you require assistance or have questions regarding your channel, you can reach out to WhatsApp support by following these steps: WhatsApp Settings > Help > Contact us.

WhatsApp Channels offers an exciting new way to share updates and connect with your audience directly through WhatsApp. We appreciate your patience as we continue to roll out this feature to users worldwide.