WhatsApp has been quick to add new features to its popular messaging app of recent. After recently rolling out the ability to exit groups silently (via Twitter), the company is now testing the ability to add more people to group chats. WhatsApp has been doubling the group participants limit over time, and it is set to receive another increase soon. Let’s look at all the details in this article.
WhatsApp Groups Can Now Have 1,024 People
WhatsApp allowed users to only add up to 256 members in a group conversation for the longest time. This limit was bumped up to 512 participants only a couple-odd months ago, along with the rollout of a new WhatsApp calling UI and up to 32 participants in a voice call.
As per a recent report from WABetaInfo, the messaging app is now looking to double the group participant limit once again. In the recent Android and iOS beta (version 2.22.21.74) release, WhatsApp tests adding up to 1,024 people in a single group chat. This seems to be another important step toward supporting the release of the Communities feature on the messaging app in the coming months.
Image Courtesy: WABetaInfo
As shown in the screenshots above, you will now see the new 1,024 participants limit while creating a new group on WhatsApp. You will, however, need to be one of the few lucky beta testers to whom the feature has been rolled out. We independently tried to verify these claims, but the feature is not live for us – neither on iOS nor Android beta.
Apart from the increased group chat participants limit, WhatsApp is also working on the ability to show a list of pending group invitations. So the admins will be able to see new invitations and have the power to approve your request to join a group. But a new upcoming feature that we are most excited about is the ability to create polls within WhatsApp. Yeah, the messaging app is also testing poll creation in beta with a select few users, so keep an eye out for that as well.
There is currently no official information for when the WhatsApp Communities feature will roll out, but the company is actively preparing new group-related features for a complete experience.
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