WhatsApp developers have announced a major update to the popular messenger. One of the main changes in its work will be the emergence of communities similar to social networks. In addition, the program will soon feature the exchange of large files and other useful innovations.

In the updated version of WhatsApp, users will be able to combine several thematic chats into a group, similar to the discussions of social networking communities. Unlike regular WhatsApp correspondence, user phone numbers will not be visible to all participants in the text conference, while the messenger will continue to encrypt all messages.

The developers gave several examples of using the innovation: “multi-chat” can be created for a group of parents of students, residents of an apartment building or an organization. This will make communication more structured and keep abreast of thematic events that will not be lost in the general dialogue.

The WhatsApp team also confirmed that with the next updates, the program will receive the ability to send “heavy” files (up to 2 GB), an audio conference mode for 32 people, a function to respond to individual messages using emoji, and delete messages for group administrators. The date of appearance of these innovations in the stable version of the messenger has not yet been announced.