How to create a WhatsApp channel, step by step

To create a WhatsApp channel, open the Updates tab, tap More options (the three dots), then Create channel and Continue. Add a name, an optional description and icon, and tap Create channel. On WhatsApp Web, click the Channels icon, then the plus. Every channel is public, and followers can react or vote but can't reply.

A channel suits one-way news: a housing society's water-cut notices, a coaching institute's timetable changes, a shop's new stock. Below are the steps for each device as of October 2026, then what followers and admins can see, how many admins you can add, what you can post, and how a channel compares with a group or a community.

How to create a WhatsApp channel on Android and iPhone

1. 1Open the Updates tab and tap More options (the three dots).
2. 2Tap Create channel, then Continue.
3. 3Type a channel name. It can be up to 100 characters, and you can change it later.
4. 4Add a description and an icon if you want them.
5. 5Tap Create channel.
6. 6WhatsApp may offer to invite some of your contacts. Select them and send the invitation, or tap Skip and invite people later.

The WhatsApp Business app creates channels from the same Updates tab, so a clinic or a shop can run its channel from the business account rather than someone's personal number. WhatsApp notes that some channel features are still rolling out, so an option may reach one phone before another.

How to create a channel on WhatsApp Web

1. 1Click the Channels icon, then the plus icon.
2. 2Click Create channel, then Continue.
3. 3Add a name, and if you like a description and a channel icon.
4. 4Click Create channel.

WhatsApp Web runs as a linked device, so the computer has to be linked to your phone's WhatsApp first. After that you can post and manage the channel from the browser, which is easier for longer updates and for images already on a laptop.

Who can see what on a WhatsApp channel?

Every channel is public, and WhatsApp offers no private version: you can't set a code or password, and you can't remove a follower. Anyone can find a channel through search, the channel directory or its link, and anyone, following or not, can read its last 30 days of updates. Channel updates also aren't end-to-end encrypted, unlike your chats, and WhatsApp reviews them against its Channels Guidelines.

Watch one thing as an owner. An admin invitation goes out as a chat from your personal account, so whoever you invite sees your phone number, and all admins of a channel can see each other's. Invite only people you'd give your number to anyway, and ask every admin to turn on two-step verification, as WhatsApp recommends.

How many admins can a WhatsApp channel have?

The owner can invite up to 16 more admins as of October 2026, chosen from their contacts. To invite one, open the channel, tap its name to reach channel info, and tap Invite admins; an invitation nobody accepts expires after seven days. Once in, admins can:

• Change the channel's name, icon, description and settings, including which emoji reactions are allowed.
• Post updates without the owner's approval, and edit or delete anyone's updates for up to 30 days after they were sent.
• See the channel's metrics and how many times each update was viewed.
• Post under an admin profile with its own name and photo, where admin profiles are switched on for the channel. Their number and personal profile stay hidden from followers either way.

Three powers stay with the owner: inviting and dismissing admins, transferring ownership, and deleting the channel. A dismissed admin stays on as a follower unless they choose to unfollow.

What can you post on a WhatsApp channel?

Text with formatting, links with previews, photos, videos, stickers, voice updates, video notes of up to 60 seconds, and polls. PDFs can't be posted, so a circular or fee chart has to go up as an image, or as a link to the file. Followers can't reply to an update or message the admins. They can react with an emoji, which you can limit to the default set or switch off under Channel settings, and they can vote in polls.

Followers' notifications start muted, so most people read a channel when they open the Updates tab. Date your updates, keep each to one topic, and put a click-to-chat link in the description so people can reach you; the WhatsApp link generator builds one, and the text formatter previews bold text and lists before you post. If those chats land on a business number your team shares, WavesFlo's shared inbox lists them with every other linked number's chats, and the reply goes out on the number the chat came in on.

Once a channel has 100 followers, channel info shows insights for the last 30 days: accounts reached, top regions, and follows and unfollows. WhatsApp says the figures can lag by about a week.

Channel, group or community: which should you create?

Choose a channel for news you'd happily pin to a public noticeboard, a group when people need to talk back, and a community when one organisation runs several groups and needs one place for notices. Community vs group vs broadcast vs channel compares all four row by row, and creating a WhatsApp community has the community steps. For private updates to people who already have your number, see how to create a broadcast list.

How to hand over or delete a WhatsApp channel

• Edit details: open the channel and tap its name to reach channel info, where you can change the name, description and icon.
• Transfer ownership: in channel info, tap Transfer ownership, pick an admin, tap Transfer and confirm with your phone number. You can stay on as an admin or dismiss yourself, in which case you remain a follower.
• Delete: only the owner can. In channel info, tap Delete channel, then Delete, enter your phone number and tap Delete again. Followers keep past updates on their phones with a note that the channel was deleted; everyone else loses access, and the channel's link stops working.
• Deleting your WhatsApp account doesn't delete a channel that has other admins: the admin who has followed it longest becomes the owner. Delete the channel first if you want it gone.

One thing you can't do yet is get a channel verified. WhatsApp's help centre says channel verification isn't publicly available and that it is working on an application process.