WhatsApp Channels Feature Rolls Out Widely To 150 Countries

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps around. It lacked a few features which alienated it from apps like Telegram and Discord, despite the popularity among users. This year has been full of WhatsApp updates because the platform is now trying to improve users’ experience. It is now bringing all the features users have wished for. Recently, Meta announced the worldwide release of the WhatsApp Channels feature.

WhatsApp Channels Feature Is Now Available in 150 Countries

Don’t confuse the channels with Communities. Just for your information, WhatsApp Communities are for multiple topical group chats sharing a common thread. On the contrary, Channels are a one-to-many messaging feature. It’s particularly designed for brands, celebrities, organizations, artists, leaders, and even your favorite sports teams to share small updates with a broad audience. It is pertinent to mention here that Channel creation isn’t available for everyone. However, the messaging platform now allows users in 150 countries to follow channels of their interest.

Channels rolled out to just Colombia and Singapore back in June this year. In the next month, it expanded to nine countries in total. The good piece of information is that it is available widely now. The new feature comes with emoji reactions that allow followers to engage with the messages admins share, called updates. You can click and hold a message to pick an emoji reaction. It is quite similar to how you react to a message in a regular WhatsApp chat.

Users will be able to forward messages from channels to group chats and conversations with their contacts. The recipients, on the other hand, will see the content and a link to check out the channel themselves. It will help in the discoverability of channels. WhatsApp has also made it easy to separate channels. The ones you follow will be present in a separate section, away from your chats. You also get a bunch of options to filter the feed as well. We hope that WhatsApp will inform you when channels are available for you because the rollout is tipped to be gradual.