Today we’re excited to launch WhatsApp Channels to over 150 countries and deliver a private way to receive updates that matter to you. We’re welcoming thousands of organizations, sports teams, artists, and thought leaders that people can follow, right within WhatsApp. 

If you’re new to Channels, our goal is to build the most private broadcast service available. Channels are separate from your chats, and who you choose to follow is not visible to other followers. We also protect the personal information of both admins and followers.

We’ve appreciated all the positive feedback from our initial start in ten countries. As we expand Channels globally, we’re introducing the following updates:

• Enhanced Directory – you can now find channels to follow that are automatically filtered based on your country. You can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on number of followers.
• Reactions – you can react using emojis to give feedback and see a count of total reactions. How you react will not be shown to followers. 
• Editing – soon, admins will be able to make changes to their Updates for up to 30 days, when we automatically delete them from our servers. 
• Forwarding – whenever you forward an Update to chats or groups it will include a link back to the channel so people can find out more.

This is just the beginning, and we’ll continue to add more features and expand Channels based on feedback we get from users. Over the coming months, we’ll also make it possible for anyone to create a channel. 

If you’re looking to hear about more product updates directly from us, we’ve now also launched the official WhatsApp Channel to keep you up-to-date on what we’re building.