WhatsApp, the Meta owned short messaging platform which is used by over 2 billion people worldwide, is constantly updating and bringing new features.

WhatsApp Messenger beta for iOS has released a new update 2.22.1.1 This new update brings hidden references about creating Communities for a future update.

WhatsApp had been working on a feature called Communities. This feature extends WhatsApp’s group’s feature, where group admins have more control over other groups in WhatsApp. The admin of a WhatsApp Community is said to have more control than a group admin.

As it can be seen in this screenshot, Admins will be able to create a Community chat. The community feature seems similar to group chat at the moment, it is, however, still a private place between people that is end-to-end encrypted.

Also when users join a community, they won’t be able to view groups that have been unlinked from a group admin. In addition, when users leave a community, they won’t be able to view linked groups to the community anymore.

Admins can possess and perform many other things through new control options. It will also be rolled out to both Android and iOS.

The new Communities feature may help WhatsApp compete better with other messaging apps like Telegram, which offer a host of features. Telegram, for instance, has channels and supports groups with over 200,000 members.

In related news, WhatsApp is launching a feature that will allow users to search for nearby businesses right within the app, as part of a major push into e-commerce and business.

According to WABetaIfo, there will be an addition in the search menu “Businesses Nearby ” where users can look out for nearby restaurants, groceries, apparels & clothing stores, and more. Soon users can basically search for things like hotels, eateries, groceries or clothing, without leaving the app. This useful tool will be rolled out to both iOS and Android users.