WhatsApp Communities gets an event planner, replies to announcement groups

WhatsApp has announced two new features for Communities. The instant messaging app now lets you create events in group chats that are part of a community. The feature, which makes it easier to set up virtual meetings or plan birthday parties on WhatsApp, was spotted under testing earlier this month.

Users who are part of a community group chat can create an event, which will get pinned at the top of the chat thread and also accessible via the group's information page, according to WhatsApp.

Other users attending the event can respond to it and know who else is going. They will get automatic notifications as the event's date and time get close. WhatsApp said the events feature will roll out to all groups in the coming months.

For the unversed, WhatsApp launched Communities in 2022 to help organize multiple groups with similar interests and bring them under a single umbrella. Each community can include multiple groups and a special Announcement Group that admins can use to send messages to all community members.

The second new feature for Communities is group members can reply to the updates posted on the Announcement Group by admins. Other users won't get notifications for these replies; they're clubbed together to prevent the main conversation thread from getting cluttered. Moreover, it might give people an idea of what others have said in the context of a particular message.

In a blog post, WhatsApp stated:

Since launching Communities, it’s been exciting to see how people with common interests – neighborhoods, school associations, hobbyists and more – use the feature to keep groups that belong together connected and organized. To help bring communities even closer together, we’re introducing a new way for people to organize events on WhatsApp, and launching organized replies to Announcement Groups so members can respond to important updates from admins.

WhatsApp also said that more features for Communities and group chats are on the way. Speaking of its recent updates, the instant messaging app introduced an upgraded race car emoji, announced passkeys for iOS, and a group chat filter, among various features.

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