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WhatsApp is changing group chats for ALL 2billion users in shock update

WHATSAPP is plotting some major changes to groups that are expected to roll out in the coming months.

The messaging app, which boasts more than 2billion users worldwide, could soon allow multiple groups to be merged into gigantic, mega-chats.

WABetaInfoThe new Communities feature is expected to roll out in the coming months[/caption]

Called “WhatsApp Communities”, the upcoming feature was first spotted by WABetaInfo in November.

The website, which scours early versions of WhatsApp to find new tools before they launch, released a new screenshot of Communities on Monday.

“Thanks to WhatsApp Communities, you can bring your groups together, so it’s easy to manage and access them,” WABetaInfo wrote.

The feature also allows you to reach members of all of your groups at once by sending messages to everyone in your Community, the site added.

A WhatsApp group is a chat between more than two users that allows you to hold a collective conversation with others.

They’re great places to arrange events, plan nights out or hold discussions with colleagues.


Communities would effectively allow you to collate and manage all of your groups in one, easy dashboard.

The screengrab shared by WABetaInfo shows an introductory screen that presumably pops up when you access Communities for the first time.

A message on the screen describes it as a tool to “add the groups you manage to one place for easy access”.

It adds that Communities allows you to “send announcements to all members and keep them updated”.

WABetaInfo said that the feature is currently in development and so is not available to all WhatsApp users. It’s unclear when it will roll out more widely.

As WhatsApp tests new tools and settings, it rolls them out to a small group of people as part of “beta” tests.

Some websites, such as WABetaInfo, are members of WhatsApp’s fabled beta programme, and promptly share whatever they find.

It means fans can get wind of upcoming WhatsApp features long before they’re released to the average user.

Keep in mind that a feature appearing in beta does not necessarily mean that it’ll make it to general release.

However, early versions of the app are generally a good barometer for what users can expect to land on their devices in the coming months.

AlamyWhatsApp is working on some major changes to groups[/caption]

In other news, a four-tonne chunk of a SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon, according to online space junk trackers.

Boeing has sunk $450million into a flying taxi startup that hopes to whisk passengers across cities by the end of the decade.

Personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.

And, scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.

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