WhatsApp now supports 1,023-person group chats

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WhatsApp now supports up to 512 people in a single group chat, along with some other improvements. The new features come as WhatsApp looks to be more business-friendly, so everyone can benefit from secure communications.

It’s all part of WhatsApp’s vision for Communities, with large-scale groups being able to communicate securely.

Communications are secure both from the outside world and from WhatsApp. That works thanks to encryption, which makes it so even WhatsApp can’t the content of group chats.

“One of the top requests we’ve consistently received is the option to add more people to a chat, so now we’re slowly rolling out the ability to add up to 512 people to a group,” WhatsApp states in a blog post.

READ MORE: WhatsApp now lets you hide profile pictures and online status

That’s not all that WhatsApp has added to the app. Emoji reactions to messages are now available on the latest version of the app, as well. That’s a nice quality of life upgrade, bringing WhatsApp closer to other modern messaging apps.

READ MORE: WhatsApp will finally let you hide your online status

The final new upgrade is a big one. WhatsApp has long had a 100MB limit for sending individual files. Now it’s increasing the limit substantially, so you can send files up to 2GB in size at a time. That’s still encrypted end-to-end, so your files are safe.

The company does recommend you use WiFi when sharing large files, and so do we. There’s nothing quite as annoying as a huge data charge on your monthly cellular bill.

WhatsApp really wants to be the collaboration tool for small businesses and school groups. These upgrades go a long way to making it more compelling to use.

READ MORE: WhatsApp now lets you move chat history from Android to iPhone

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.