Summary
- WhatsApp is testing an event scheduling feature for communities, allowing users to create and manage events within group chats easily.
- Members will automatically receive notifications for new events and can review details, accept invites, and receive reminders before events start.
- The feature could extend to regular group chats, providing a valuable tool for organizing online classes or events directly within the app.
WhatsApp was spotted working on an event scheduling feature since October 2023. A follow-up report from March this year detailed how the feature will work and the improvements Meta has made to event scheduling since 2023. It appears WhatsApp is ready to start trialing the feature, as it has popped up for some beta testers on the latest WhatsApp beta for Android.
What is WhatsApp Communities and how do I use it?
Organize all your WhatsApp Groups in one place with Communities
According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp will soon allow you to create new events within a community. Given that a typical community consists of tens (or hundreds) of people, an event scheduling feature would make organizing meetings or events more manageable.
The option to create a new event will appear in WhatsApp’s attachment menu within a community chat. You can then enter the event’s name, date, time, and optionally, location. There’s also a toggle to attach a WhatsApp call link, which you can then specify whether it’s a video or voice call.
Once an event is created, all community members will automatically receive a notification. They can then review and accept the invite. The event creator can modify the event details later. However, this will again notify all community members who have accepted the event invitation.
All events created in a community will be accessible from the group info and the community pages. This will make it easy for community members to stay updated with all planned events.
As previously reported, WhatsApp will also send you timely reminders when an event is about to start. There will also be an Add to Calendar button so that you can quickly add the event to your calendar.
WhatsApp might bring event scheduling to groups too
Besides communities, WhatsApp is seemingly exploring the possibility of bringing event scheduling to regular group chats as well.
For many who use WhatsApp to host online classes or manage events, the ability to create and schedule events directly within the app would be a valuable addition.
For now, event scheduling has only popped up for some WhatsApp beta for Android users running the 2.24.9.20 build. Given this is a limited release, the feature might not appear even if you have the same version installed on your phone.
