If you’ve opened the WhatsApp app recently, you may have been “ambushed” by a new conversation automatically, without you tapping anything. It seems the messaging app has lately been incorporating features built into the chat itself, as we recently saw with Meta AI, its own conversational artificial intelligence that we can use directly within the app or by invoking it in other chats.
Now, in a similar way, this chat called “WhatsApp” has appeared in practically all users’ apps, triggering alarms among those less tech-savvy. But to clear things up: no, it is not a virus, nor any threat you should worry about.
WhatsApp now informs you through its own channel… directly within WhatsApp
Although the title may seem somewhat redundant, until very recently, if you wanted to know WhatsApp’s latest updates, you had to rely on specialized media or the official WhatsApp blog, where they previewed the upcoming features that would be added to the popular messaging app.
While that’s a way for very engaged users to stay up to date, the truth is that most users are not usually interested in future features of the app, but rather in knowing that they already have them available. That’s where this new WhatsApp chat that has appeared on your phone comes in; in fact, we can’t even call it a chat, since technically it’s a channel, as we cannot send messages in that conversation.
Thus, this channel serves for WhatsApp to inform its users about updates or useful features they should know about, such as tips to enable two-step verification or notify that the WhatsApp version for iPad is already available.
Also, because these messages are integrated in the app itself, they often include dedicated buttons that guide you step-by-step to apply the suggested settings (such as enabling the always-recommended two-step verification) or expand the information about the updates they are informing us about.
That said, make sure the chat you are looking at has the verification icon next to the name WhatsApp and that, at the start of the channel, the system message “This is an official WhatsApp account” is included, in order to avoid possible scammers pretending to be the company and requesting sensitive data from you (remember, also, that you cannot send messages in the official WhatsApp channel).
WhatsApp has had “channels” of information for some time
Like this one, there are many more channels within the messaging app. Media outlets, influencers, or services (for example, from the Government of Spain or the Civil Guard, to Cercanías) have their own channels you can follow within WhatsApp and from which they publish updates and relevant content.
Some are simple follower communities (deal groups, fan clubs…), and others are verified channels as mentioned above. The common point is that in channels, members cannot participate by sending messages, only the administrators can, which is why these have a more informative character and are not as interactive as groups.
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