WhatsApp groups are designed for a 2 way communication between participants with a max limit of 256 group members.
You’re probably a part of some WhatsApp group and you’ve noticed you can see all of the participants and their phone numbers. Whenever someone new is added it is visible and everyone can write and send messages which appear in the common chat.
The group always has an admin, the lord of the realm 🤴. Admins have exclusive powers which let them add and remove group members, create an invite link, restrict changes to the group description and control the ability to write in the group chat. You can add anyone in the group if they are in your contacts and the added person doesn’t have to have you in their contacts list.
WhatsApp broadcast works in a different way compared to groups. It is designed for a 1 way communication and participants in it don’t know that the message they received was sent through the broadcast feature, neither can they see the other contacts in the broadcast list.
When you create a broadcast you can select a maximum of 256 contacts which will receive the same message once you send it out. They will get the message in a direct chat with you, so for the recipient it looks like a regular WhatsApp chat.
If you get a response it will also appear in the individual chat you have with the contact. Basically broadcasts are a fast way to send the same message to many contacts. 🚀
In order to receive a message sent through a broadcast, the recipient has to have your number saved as a contact. This restriction protects us all from spam messages in WhatsApp.
