As per an apk teardown by the XDA group, WhatsApp is found to be working on a new ‘Community’ feature, that shall coexist with WhatsApp Groups.
While there’s no proper revealing yet, we speculate this to be sub-groups within a parent group and will let those who’re involved chat among themselves, publicly. This is helpful in the case of Channels, where the admin only gets to send messages.
WhatsApp Community Feature
Comparing with other IMs, WhatsApp is definitely slow in rolling out new features to the community. Rivals like Telegram and Signal are picking up with community-asked needs, and luring both new and existing WhatsApp users to their platform.
And WhatsApp is just following them and bringing only features that are needed. One among them could be the support to let users of a group form separate subgroups, and converse. This is more like Telegram’s threads to a Channel, where only the admin gets to send messages.
And to clear doubts from that one-sided communication, followers form separate groups or open threads relating to the post and chat. This is already available in Telegram and could be coming to WhatsApp, as per XDA developers.
<string name="accept_invite_link_already_in_parent_group">"You're already in this community"</string>
<string name="button_invite_to_parent_group">Invite to community</string>
<string name="cannot_send_to_parent_group_not_member">"ERROR: can't send to this community, not a participant"</string>
<string name="conversations_most_recent_parent_group_invite">WhatsApp community invite</string>
<string name="failed_accept_bad_invite_link_parent_group">"This invite link doesn't match any WhatsApp communities"</string>
<string name="failed_accept_invite_link_banned_parent_group">"You can't join this community because you were removed."</string>
<string name="failed_accept_invite_link_invalid_parent_group">"You can't join this community because this invite link is invalid."</string>
<string name="failed_accept_invite_link_no_parent_group">"You can't join this community because it has ended."</string>
<string name="failed_accept_invite_link_reset_parent_group">"You can't join this community because this invite link was reset."</string>
<string name="failed_accept_invite_parent_group_full">"You can't join this community because it is full."</string>
<string name="failed_announcement_parent_group_send_msg_not_admin">Only admins can message this community</string>
<string name="failed_create_invite_link_no_parent_group">"Can't view this community's invite link because this group has ended."</string>
<string name="failed_create_invite_link_not_admin_parent_group">"Can't view this community's invite link because you're not an admin."</string>
<string name="invite_link_description_parent_group">Anyone with WhatsApp can follow this link to join this community. Only share it with people you trust.</string>
<string name="join_parent_group">Join community</string>
<string name="join_parent_group_by_link">Join community</string>
<string name="join_parent_group_creator_message">Community created by %1$s</string>
<string name="joining_parent_group">Joining community…</string>
<string name="parent_group_created_by_creator">Group creator created community \"%1$s\"</string>
<string name="parent_group_created_by_name">%1$s created community \"%2$s\"</string>
<string name="parent_group_created_by_you">You created community \"%1$s\"</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_name">%1$s changed the community description. Tap to view.</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_name_in_chats">%1$s changed the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_participant">A participant changed the community description. Tap to view.</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_participant_in_chats">A participant changed the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_you">You changed the community description. Tap to view.</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_changed_by_you_in_chats">You changed the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_deleted_by_name">%1$s deleted the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_deleted_by_participant">A participant deleted the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_description_deleted_by_you">You deleted the community description</string>
<string name="parent_group_ended">This community has ended</string>
<string name="parent_group_invite">WhatsApp community invite</string>
<string name="parent_group_invite_default_caption">Invitation to join my WhatsApp community</string>
<string name="parent_group_invite_link_preview_description">Community chat invite</string>
<string name="parent_group_link_qr_prompt">This community QR code is private. If it is shared with someone, they can scan it with their WhatsApp camera to join this community.</string>
<string name="parent_group_no_forwarded_many_times_disabled_sys_msg">"%1$s changed this community's settings to allow messages that have been forwarded many times"</string>
<string name="parent_group_no_forwarded_many_times_disabled_sys_msg_you">"You changed this community's settings to allow messages that have been forwarded many times"</string>
<string name="parent_group_no_forwarded_many_times_enabled_sys_msg">"%1$s changed this community's settings to not allow messages that have been forwarded many times"</string>
<string name="parent_group_no_forwarded_many_times_enabled_sys_msg_you">"You changed this community's settings to not allow messages that have been forwarded many times"</string>
<string name="parent_group_participant_joined_by_link_names">"%s joined using this community's invite link"</string>
<string name="parent_group_participant_joined_by_link_you">"You joined using this community's invite link"</string>
<string name="parent_group_qr_share_subtitle">WhatsApp community</string>
<string name="parent_group_restrict_disabled_sys_msg">"%1$s changed this community's settings to allow all participants to edit this group's info"</string>
<string name="parent_group_restrict_disabled_sys_msg_you">"You changed this community's settings to allow all participants to edit this group's info"</string>
<string name="parent_group_restrict_enabled_sys_msg">"%1$s changed this community's settings to allow only admins to edit this group's info"</string>
<string name="parent_group_restrict_enabled_sys_msg_you">"You changed this community's settings to allow only admins to edit this community's info"</string>
<string name="reset_link_confirmation_parent_group">Are you sure you want to reset the invite link for \"%1$s\"? If you reset the link, no one will be able to use it to join this community.</string>
<string name="share_invite_link_message_parent_group">Follow this link to join my WhatsApp community: %s</string>
<string name="view_parent_group">View community</string>The team tore down the WhatsApp beta v2.21.21.6 to find new code strings, revealing Community as an added feature. This is often adjoined with the Groups, thus making both distinctive sections. This could be an option to form several communities in a group, or vice versa.
And this also may extend the admin roles too, to limit and manage the new section. Whatever it is, we may find more information soon if it’s continued to be developing. Else, WhatsApp, just like other tech platforms may discard if felt useless in the making. Since it’s seen in the beta, better wait further to know more.
