A Community feature for WhatsApp is reportedly in the works

WhatsApp Community: a feature in the works

XDA-Developers have found references about a feature called "Community" in the latest beta version for WhatsApp, version 2.21.21.6. The new feature will reportedly have some overlaps with the existing Group feature, but references from the code point that Community is not just a new name for Groups, it is a feature that will coexist alongside WhatsApp Groups.

The APK teardown does not reveal exactly what this feature will be, it only hints it exists and could be developed by WhatsApp. XDA speculates that Community could possibly be a social media-like function with the messaging app itself, something similar to a Facebook group. It is possible a WhatsApp Community will host more than one WhatsApp Group within itself, or even have a dedicated Channel for admins to message. Additionally, Community posts could possibly also have threaded responses by different Community members.

However, as this is speculation and this feature is in its early development stages, it is possible that it won't be any new feature but just a way to rename Groups to Community. There is no specific timeframe of when this feature will be fully developed or available for beta testing or even to the general public.

WhatsApp features currently in development to look forward to

WhatsApp is constantly working on improving its feature set and a lot of new features its developers are working on have been appearing on beta versions of the popular messaging app. The beta testing program for WhatsApp has been closed for quite some time, but new features discovered at the beta version eventually make their way to an official global release.
Earlier, we reported on a very useful privacy feature, end-to-end encrypted backups, that started rolling out to beta testers on iOS. This feature makes backups done by WhatsApp be end-to-end encrypted in the cloud, meaning nobody can get access to your backed-up data, not even WhatsApp itself. This is an important privacy and security feature that is currently available for testing if you're a part of WhatsApp's beta testing program, and will eventually make its way to all users at some point in time.

Another useful feature that spent some time in beta testing was multi-device support, with the possibility to connect up to four devices to a single WhatsApp account and to be able to chat and communicate using the app on another device even if your phone is not connected to the internet. This multi-device support feature is in beta, but it has been made available to anyone with a WhatsApp account, so even people who are not part of the beta testing program can get to test it out.

WhatsApp has also been working on a WhatsApp app that takes advantage of the bigger screen of an iPad or a tablet. Reportedly, WhatsApp has been making progress on an app specifically designed for iPad or Android tablet use.