Select beta testers will be able to expand participants in groups to up to 1,024 people as WhatsApp rolls out the feature this week to beta users for both Android and iOS, according to WABetaInfo.
Earlier this year, the Meta-owned messaging platform capped its group chat participants to 512 from the previous 256. Now WhatsApp is allowing its users to create larger group chats.
New Feature is Rolled Out to Some Lucky Beta Testers Only
To catch up with the other messaging services, WhatsApp is continuously improving its features in its platform.
One of the focuses of these improvements is the platform's group chat. The messaging app decided to expand the number of participants in its group chat.
For quite some time, only 256 people have been allowed to join a WhatsApp group. This number is ideal enough for a group of family and friends. However, for people working in an organization or larger group, this has become somewhat limited.
To address the issue, WhatsApp decided to increase the number of participants to 512 quite recently. Now, the messaging platform is once again doubling the number to expand it to over a thousand participants, as per Android Police.
The increase would likely benefit people who are members of large groups. With the expansion, more people will be able to join and access the group chat.
As per WABetaInfo, only lucky beta testers can access the new feature, which means WhatsApp is not releasing it widely.
Those people who have access to the new feature will see that the number of participants is now capped at 1,024.
The new feature is quite similar to the previous one. The only difference is from now on, thousands of people will be able to read and reply to your message.
Read Also: WhatsApp Might Let Users Leave Group Chats 'Silently' in a Future Update
How to Check if the Feature is Available in Your WhatsApp Account
You can check if the new feature is already available on your device by going to your WhatsApp account and creating a group. You should be able to see the limit configured for your account.
As the new feature is only for some lucky beta testers, some of us may still see that the number of participants is not yet capped at 1,024.
"If you still see 512, don't worry, since it is a small test that happened in Argentina with the feature that lets share media files up to 2GB in size. It might take a while before reaching all other WhatsApp account, so nothing is wrong with your account," states the report.
The move of WhatsApp is a significant step forward. In addition, new tools are being developed by the messaging platform to give admins more control over these larger groups. Among these new tools are a "list of pending participants and an approval system."
In comparison, WhatsApp competitor Telegram allows you to add up to 200,000 people to the same group. This would be useful for enterprises in order to send a message or information to many people in one go.
Related Article: WhatsApp Will Roll Out a New Privacy Feature That Lets You Quietly Leave Group Chats
