What you need to know
- WhatsApp has been found testing a new capability for its Groups feature.
- Meta-owned messaging service might increase the limit to 1,024, up from 512 participants.
- The new capability is currently available in WhatsApp beta for select testers.
WhatsApp seems to be working on a new capability. The groups feature that now allows up to 512 participants for a single group is reportedly set to increase that number to 1,024.
Based on the screenshots shared by WABetaInfo, we can see the new group amount featuring 1/1024 participants instead of 1/512, which is the current limit on the messaging platform. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is seen testing this feature on its beta testing platform for both Android devices and iOS. The capability is said to be available for select WhatsApp beta testers, and a future update for the same is expected soon.
Not long ago, WhatsApp introduced the ability to add 512 members to a group, which was already a step up from 256 members. It looks like one of the best messaging apps is taking on its rivals with the new capability being tested.
For example, Telegram allows 200,000 members, primarily involving channels that often broadcast to a wide majority of people on the instant messaging service. Likewise, another direct competitor, Signal, allows up to 1,000 members for a single group.
WhatsApp has been on a spree of launching lots of features this year. After increasing group member capabilities, the messaging service also upped the file-sharing limit from 25MB to 2GB. It has also brought in individual message reactions in a conversation, just like what we have seen on other messaging platforms like Messenger.
Also, last month, WhatsApp introduced a new calling feature for its mobile app. Dubbed Call Links, it gives users the new capability to join a video or audio call with just a single tap. Users can share links for the respective call for their friends and family on the Meta-owned messaging platform. This works very similar to other virtual call services' links like Google Meet or Zoom.
