How to allow only admins to send messages on WhatsApp community?

WhatsApp groups have become an integral part of our daily communication. They allow us to stay connected with our friends, family, colleagues, and other social circles. However, as the group size increases, too many random messages from too many people can make the group chat messy. This often reduces the group’s usefulness.

WhatsApp has introduced a great feature called Community to address this problem. Communities on WhatsApp allow group admins much better control over groups. One of the most useful features is the ability to restrict sending messages in the Community group to admin approval.

In this article, we will learn how to allow only admins to send messages in your WhatsApp Community. We will go through a step-by-step process to enable this setting.

What are Communities on WhatsApp?

WhatsApp Communities are a better version of WhatsApp groups that provide more organization and control. Some key features of Communities are:

• They can have up to 10 groups with up to 512 members each.
• Admins can send important announcements to the entire community.
• Groups can be organized into categories like work, family etc.
• Admins have more control over groups.

Overall, Communities provide a better experience when you need to communicate with larger sets of people about different topics. They reduce noise and confusion in group chats.

How to create a Community on WhatsApp?

Follow these steps to create a Community on WhatsApp:

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone.
2. Tap on the 3-dot menu icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Communities from the menu.
4. Tap on the Start a Community button.
5. Add a name and description for your Community.
6. Tap on Next and select contacts to add as Community admins.
7. Tap on Create to create the Community.

That’s it! Your new Community will be created. You can now start adding groups to it.

How to add groups to a Community?

Here are the steps to add existing WhatsApp groups to a Community:

1. Open the Community you created.
2. Tap on the Add Groups button at the top.
3. Select the groups you want to add from the list.
4. Tap on Add after selecting the groups.

The selected groups will be added to your Community. You can also create new groups from within the Community screen to add.

How to allow only admins to send messages in a WhatsApp Community group?

Follow these steps to allow only admins to send messages in a WhatsApp Community group:

1. Open the WhatsApp group inside your Community.
2. Tap on the group name at the top to open group settings.
3. Scroll down and tap on Send Messages.
4. Select Only Admins from the list of options.

That’s it! Now, only admins will be able to send messages in this WhatsApp group. Non-admin members can only read messages.

Understanding the Send Messages permission

The Send Messages permission has 4 options in WhatsApp Communities:

• Everyone – All members can send messages.
• Only Admins – Only admins can send, others can only read.
• Only approved members – Only members approved by admins can send messages.
• Only admins can approve – Admins must explicitly approve each message sent by members.

The most restrictive option is Only admins can approve. This allows complete control over all messages in the group.

Allowing non-admins to send important messages

Even when Send Messages is set to Only Admins, there are two ways to allow non-admins to send important messages:

1. Message Approval – Non-admins can request the admin to approve an important message.
2. Allow List – Admins can add certain non-admin members to an Allow List. Members in this list can post messages without admin approval.

Using these exceptions, non-admin members can still contribute important information while admins retain overall control.

Best practices for using admin-only messaging

Here are some best practices for effectively using the admin-only messaging setting in your WhatsApp Community:

• Inform members when enabling this setting to avoid confusion.
• Set clear rules on how non-admins can submit messages for approval.
• Review pending message approval requests regularly.
• Build an Allow List of important non-admin contributors.
• Periodically disable admin-only messaging for open discussion if needed.
• Thank members when they report important information for approval.
• Reply back to members after approving/rejecting their messages.

Following these best practices improves engagement and ensures appropriate information flow despite restrictions.

Pros and cons of allowing only admins to send messages

Here are some key pros and cons of this setting:

Pros

• Gives admins better control over message flow.
• Reduces unwanted spam from random members.
• Makes large groups more readable.
• Allows focusing discussion on important topics.
• Great for preventing misuse in large public groups.

Cons

• Can discourage members from contributing.
• Important messages may be missed if approval is delayed.
• Can be seen as too restrictive if used incorrectly.
• Requires effort from admins to approve messages.
• Reduces free flow of ideas and healthy debates.

Overall, this setting provides useful benefits but should be used judiciously based on the group’s needs.

Conclusion

Allowing only admins to send messages is a powerful moderation tool for WhatsApp Community groups. It prevents distraction, misinformation, and spam in large public groups.

However, if used inconsiderately in private groups, it can limit healthy participation. Admins should find the right balance based on each group’s needs.

Using it thoughtfully along with options like message approval and Allow Lists can let Community admins gain control over messaging while still allowing valuable member participation.

We hope this guide gives you a good overview of how to allow only admins to send messages in your WhatsApp Community groups. Use this capability mindfully to improve your Community’s engagement and conversations!