

Each operates in parallel with different accounts and telephone numbers associated with them. What's really most exciting about this app is that it can coexist on the same Android device as the original official WhatsApp client. You'll also be able to respond to customers who contact you and can manage to answer them with an automated customized response. This info appears publicly in each listing. The only requirement is that you register to gain official WhatsApp Business status.Įnter data for your company profile into the app, including the area it belongs to as well as your mailing address (if you have one, that is). Its task is to manage various aspects of your business account so customers can get in contact with your business via WhatsApp chat. This would be a key selling point of Channels if WhatsApp is looking to tempt brands, government agencies and others looking to move over to the app.WhatsApp Business is a totally independent tool designed for the official WhatsApp client. Instead, they’re treated more like your messages with businesses on WhatsApp, though Meta does say it’s thinking about ways to encrypt some channels over time.

The channels won’t be end-to-end encrypted (where only the users communicating can read the messages). Channel admins can even block screenshots and the sharing of messages or content, keeping what is in the channel private and contained. The team explains in the blog post that privacy is key to the experience, which is why channel admin information won’t be shared and the app will only store 30 days' worth of channel history. You’ll be able to find channels by searching for them in WhatsApp – as you would on Twitter – or browsing a newly-created directory and seeing updates from the channels you follow in the ‘Status’ section of the app. The company has plans to build payment and monetization services into the feature.

This makes sense in a way, as it’s a familiar setup on an app a lot of people use on a daily basis.Ĭhannels act as a creator tool and its a place to “send texts, photos, videos stickers and polls” according to a WhatsApp blog post. The WhatsApp team has probably taken notice of all the Twitter refugees searching for a new place to share their essential updates, and considers Channels as a quick-fix replacement. Sound familiar?īasically, Channels are a Twitter feed. Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, calls it “a private way to follow what matters” and uses local sports updates as an example of how you might use it. It's called Channels, and it's specifically for more-than-necessary broadcasts rather than conversations. WhatsApp’s newest feature brings a different vibe to the world’s most popular messaging app, and likely not for the better.
