WhatsApp Channel

A WhatsApp Channel is the one-way broadcast tool found under the Updates tab. Whoever creates it posts; whoever follows receives it and can react with an emoji, but cannot reply and cannot see other followers. It is radio, not conversation.

How to create a channel

Open the Updates tab, tap the + next to Channels and choose Create channel. You set the name, description, photo, and whether the channel shows up in public search. The channel gets a link like whatsapp.com/channel/... that can be shared anywhere — an Instagram bio, a website, packaging, an email signature.

You can post text, photo, video, audio, stickers and polls, edit a post after sending it, and forward posts to groups.

Channel, group and broadcast list are not the same thing

The difference that matters most for a business: in a channel, the follower's number is not visible to you, and the business's number is not visible to the follower. Nobody becomes anybody's contact.

Where a channel fails for sales

This is the blind spot. A channel generates no leads: you do not know who followed, you have no phone number, you cannot start a conversation or answer a question. Metrics come down to follower count and reactions. There is no segmentation, no automation, no CRM integration.

A channel works for announcing — the day's promotion, a menu, a live class, a bulk order-status update, a schedule notice. The sale keeps happening in the private conversation, and that is where every good channel pushes the follower, with a direct WhatsApp link in the post.

Who sees what

The admin shows up by the channel's name, not by phone number. The follower is also anonymous to the admin. Posts stay available for up to 30 days on a follower's device — a channel is not a library, it is a stream.