The developers at WhatsApp want to give users more freedom. As the blog “WABetaInfo” reports, they are therefore lifting a restriction that has been active in Messenger for quite a while. Because so far, WhatsApp groups had a maximum number of participants of 256. With a new update, this number is to be increased to 512 chat participants.
The innovation is now available for all WhatsApp versions. If you want to check whether you have already been provided with the new feature, you just have to create a new group. If the maximum number of 512 is displayed in the information, the feature has already been activated.
If 256 is still displayed, you have to be patient. WhatsApp is rolling out such changes in waves. It may take up to 24 hours for all users to be served. In any case, update the WhatsApp app via the store of your smartphone.
WhatsApp is getting closer to the competition
WhatsApp last increased the maximum number of chat participants in 2016. At that time, the change from 100 to 256 was completed. With the current step, WhatsApp is a step closer to the competition. Nevertheless, Telegram still offers the largest possible number of participants in a messenger chat. The developers promise up to 200,000 participants per channel.
WhatsApp may want to poach a few users here who can be satisfied with 512 participants, but for whom 256 was not enough.