WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.19.34: what's new?

WhatsApp is rolling out a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.24.19.34.
What's new in this update? WhatsApp is rolling out a transfer ownership feature for communities, and it's available to some beta testers!

In the article about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.11.8 update, we announced that WhatsApp was working on a transfer ownership feature for communities. This feature would have allowed community owners to easily transfer ownership to another member, relinquishing their primary administrative privileges and responsibilities while retaining their status as a community admin. It appears that WhatsApp is finally testing this feature with the public, as some beta testers can now access the option to transfer their community ownership. Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.19.34 update, which is available on the Google Play Store, we discovered that WhatsApp is rolling out a transfer ownership feature for communities!

As you can see from the attached screenshot, some beta testers can now explore a feature that allows community owners with more than one administrator in their community to assign a new owner. This new option will appear under the community settings for eligible users, making it easier for current owners to hand over leadership. Through this feature, community owners can select any other member to become the new owner and transfer full administrative privileges to them. After the transfer, the original owner will no longer have the ability to make major decisions, such as disabling the community or preventing other members from demoting them as an admin, but they will still retain their standard role as a community admin. This means that they can continue moderating all community group chats, as they will still have the authority to manage members and delete messages, even though they no longer hold primary ownership.

Previously, without an option to transfer ownership, community owners would have had to create an entirely new community and then ask all members to leave the old one and join the new one. This process was considered very disruptive, as it required convincing every member to manually switch, risking the loss of members along the way and causing unnecessary confusion. Thanks to the new transfer community ownership option, community owners can easily assign leadership to another administrator without any disruptions.

A community owner may also want to step back from the responsibility of managing the community due to time constraints, changes in personal priorities, or the need to reduce their overall involvement. In some cases, they might want to transfer ownership to a secondary phone number to maintain ongoing moderation of the community. As a result, this feature can be particularly useful in maintaining the continuity of the community, since the original owner can still help with day-to-day administrative tasks even after the ownership transfer.

A transfer ownership feature for communities is available to some beta testers who install the latest updates of WhatsApp beta for Android from the Google Play Store, and it is rolling out to even more people over the coming weeks.

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