Create WhatsApp Community on iOS

WhatsApp Community is available on both platforms i.e, iOS and Android. Let’s have a look at the steps on how to create a community on iPhone first.

  1. Navigate to WhatsApp on your iPhone and tap to open the app.
  2. Tap on the Communities tab in WhatsApp.
  3. On the Communities page, tap on Start a Community to begin the process of creating a new community.
  4. On the next page, it will ask you for a name and description of the WhatsApp community. Fill it in and then tap on Next. Pro Tip: You can also set a photo for your community by tapping the Edit button and selecting an image from Gallery app.
  5. It will ask you to add groups to the community you’re creating. You can either tap Create New Group or Add Existing Group. For this guide, we’re proceeding with Create New Group. Note: If you’ve existing groups and don’t want to create a new one, then tap on Add Existing Group > Select the groups > and tap on Add to select groups. One more thing, you can only add those groups to the community in which you are an admin. Otherwise, select Create New Group.
  6. A group creation page will open. Type a name for the group and then tap on Add to add it to the WhatsApp community.
  7. Once the group is created, you’ll be redirected to the Add Groups page. Now tap on Create and that’s it. Now you’ve got a community at your fingertips on your iPhone.

Create WhatsApp Community on Android

WhatsApp Community is also available on Android, and it’s no different than iOS. Let’s learn how to create a Community on Android.

  1. Navigate to WhatsApp on your Android smartphone and tap to open it.
  2. Tap on the small Community icon to the left of the Chats tab to go to the Communities page.
  3. Tap on START YOUR COMMUNITY to start.
  4. On the next page, type the community’s name along with the description and then tap on the green arrow to proceed. Pro Tip: To look more professional, you can also select a photo for your community by tapping on the camera icon.
  5. Now you will get two options on the Add groups page. You can either select Create a new group or Add existing groups. For example, we’re choosing “Add existing groups”. Note: If you want to create a new group for the community, then go to Create new group > Type a name for the group > tap on the green arrow to create a new group.
  6. Select the groups you want to add to the community by selecting them. And then tap on the green arrow to move further. Note: Beware that you will be able to add only those groups to the community in which you are an admin.
  7. Once the groups are selected, you will be sent back to the Add groups page. Now tap on the Green tick button to create a Community with your chosen groups.
  8. How many groups can be added under one community? WhatsApp allows you to add only 21 groups at the time of creating a community. But for some reason or bug, once the community has been created, you can add up to 51 groups to the same community. This is true for both Android and iOS versions of WhatsApp. I believe this will be fixed in the future update though hopefully, it will be on the higher side.
  9. How many members can be added under one group? The number is the same as before i.e, 1024 members in one WhatsApp group. WhatsApp may increase this number in the future.
  10. What’s the announcement group that is created automatically? An Announcement group is a separate group from all other groups under a community. This is a kind of announcement channel but only for community admins. The messages sent here by the admins will be visible to all the groups and their community members.
  11. Can we make a community without having a group in it? No. As of now, WhatsApp doesn’t let you create a community without a group in it. You need to add an existing group or make a new group along with Community in order to create a Community.

Communities, Groups, You, and Much More

Communities are for real-life communities like parents at school, societies, neighborhoods, and even workplaces are supposed to bring groups together virtually on WhatsApp. It also enables the admins to send a message once which can be read by all the group members under it, rather than copying and pasting the same message in multiple groups. Hope this helped you how to create a WhatsApp Community in no time. By the way, you can learn more about the communities here on WhatsApp’s Blog. Are you struggling to put WhatsApp on your home screen, learn how to put the WhatsApp app icon on your Home Screen here?