How to create a WhatsApp Channel for business: setup, admins, privacy and what to post

The short answer

Here is how to create WhatsApp Channel for business accounts: open the WhatsApp Business app, go to the Updates tab, tap the new-channel button, then Create channel > Continue. Type a channel name, add an optional description and icon, and tap Create channel. You can invite contacts straight away or tap Skip. That is all the setup there is; there is no application form to send to Meta.

A channel is a one-way broadcast to anyone who chooses to follow you. WhatsApp describes it as sharing updates with an unlimited audience. Followers cannot reply or message the admins; they can react with emoji and vote in polls. That makes a channel good for new arrivals, offers, menus and announcements, and poor for anything that needs a conversation. This guide covers the setup, privacy, admins, what to post and how a channel compares with broadcast lists and API campaigns. Menu names come from WhatsApp's Help Center, checked on 31 Oct 2026; the Help Center notes that features roll out gradually, so the create option may not appear on every account yet.

Channel, broadcast list or API broadcast?

Most small businesses end up using two of these: a channel for brand followers who are happy to check in when they like, and a broadcast list or API campaign for customers who must not miss a message, such as order updates or a sale that ends tonight. The WhatsApp broadcast campaigns page explains the API side.

Before you start

1. Use the business number. Create the channel from the WhatsApp Business app on your business phone. Admin invitations are sent as a chat from the account that owns the channel, so the people you invite see that account's number.
2. Update the app. WhatsApp adds channel features gradually and recommends keeping WhatsApp updated.
3. Write the name. Channel names can be up to 100 characters. Say who you are and what followers get, for example "Rangoli Home Jaipur: new sarees and offers". WhatsApp's guidelines ask for a title that reflects the channel's content.
4. Write the description. Two lines: what you post, how often, and how to order. For example: "New block-print sarees and dupattas every Tuesday and Friday. To order, tap the WhatsApp link in any update."
5. Pick an icon. Your square shop logo, readable at thumbnail size.

Step 1: create the channel

1. Open WhatsApp Business and tap the Updates tab.
2. Tap the new-channel button (the plus icon) and choose Create channel, then Continue.
3. Add the channel name.
4. Add an optional description and tap the icon area to add an optional channel icon.
5. Tap Create channel.
6. WhatsApp offers to send channel invites. Select contacts, add an optional message and send, or tap Skip and invite people later.

You can change the name, description or icon at any time: tap the channel, open Channel info, then Edit, make the change and tap Save changes.

Step 2: add admins and set reactions

The channel owner can invite up to 16 admins. To reach the controls, open the Updates tab, tap your channel, then tap the channel name to open the channel info page. Tap Invite admins, choose people from your followers or contacts, add a message and send. Each invite opens a separate chat with that person and expires after seven days if not accepted.

Admins can turn on admin profiles in channel settings, so each admin posts under a custom name and photo instead of their personal profile. WhatsApp also asks every admin to turn on two-step verification, because anyone holding an admin's phone can post to your followers. When a staff member leaves, open the channel info page, tap their name and choose Dismiss as admin.

To control reactions, open Channel info > Channel settings and choose Any emoji, Default only or None.

Privacy: what you and your followers can see

• Followers do not see you. Updates come from the channel. Followers do not see the WhatsApp profile name, photo or phone number of the owner or admins.
• Admins see each other. The owner and all admins can see one another's phone number, name and, depending on privacy settings, profile photo.
• You see a little about followers. Admins can see a follower's profile name and, depending on their settings, profile photo. Followers who are also your contacts show their full details. Other followers cannot see who follows the channel.
• Everything is public. WhatsApp says all channels are publicly accessible: you cannot create a private channel or set a password, and anyone, follower or not, can see the last 30 days of updates.
• You cannot remove followers. There is no way to kick someone off a public channel.

Personal messages and calls stay end-to-end encrypted as before; channel updates are a separate, public feed. Do not post anything you would not put on a shop window, and never post customers' names, numbers or order details.

Step 3: what to post, and the rules

WhatsApp lists these update types for business channels: text, images, videos, stickers, links, audio and polls. A practical week for Meera's home bakery in Pune might look like this (illustrative):

Because followers cannot reply, every selling update needs a way to start a private chat: your WhatsApp short link from the Business app's Tools tab, or a website link. Clicks become normal chats where your greeting message and quick replies take over.

Editing and deleting: you can edit some updates for up to 30 days (they show "edited", and followers are not notified), but you cannot edit photos, videos, audio, polls or forwarded updates. You can delete any update for everyone for up to 30 days; media already saved on someone's phone and copies forwarded elsewhere are not removed.

What WhatsApp does not allow: the Channels Guidelines ban illegal content, fraud and impersonation, intellectual property you do not have the right to use, and harmful or sexually explicit content, and say channels should not be used to offer or sell regulated or restricted goods. WhatsApp also asks admins not to send too many or low-quality updates. It can warn admins, stop delivering updates, remove content, revoke the invite link, suspend the channel or ban admins.

Step 4: grow your followers

People find a channel in three ways, according to WhatsApp: a link you share outside WhatsApp, in-app sharing by followers, and browsing or searching the directory in the Updates tab. From your channel's share options you can:

• Send link via WhatsApp to up to five chats or groups at a time.
• Share to my status, with a caption.
• Share link to other apps, or Copy link for your Instagram bio, Google Business Profile and website.
• Open the QR code to print it for the counter, the bill or the delivery bag.

A printed line on the bill works well for local shops: "Follow Rangoli Home on WhatsApp for new arrivals. Scan the QR code. Your number stays private." The privacy point matters: many people follow a channel more readily than they share their number.

Step 5: measure what works

Open the channel info page and tap See all. WhatsApp shows three tabs for the last 30 days: Growth (follows, unfollows, net follows), Reach (accounts that viewed at least one update, and up to 10 top regions) and Followers (total and top regions). Each update also shows its emoji reactions, poll results and view count to admins.

Two limits to remember: insights appear only once the channel has 100 followers, and WhatsApp says the numbers can be about a week late. There is no per-follower delivery report and no click tracking, so if you want to know which post brought enquiries, use a different website link per update or ask new customers where they saw the offer.

After launch: when a channel is not enough

Watch for these signs:

• You need replies, bookings or payments from the message itself.
• Important updates are missed because followers' notifications are off by default.
• You want to message a segment, such as customers who bought in the last 90 days, not everyone.
• You need delivery and read reports per customer.

Those jobs belong to the WhatsApp Business API: approved templates sent to opted-in customers, landing in their Chats tab, with replies going to a shared inbox and reports for each recipient. Meta charges per delivered template, and your messaging limit decides how many people you can reach each day. If you connect your Business app number to the API through coexistence, keep in mind that Channels are not available through the API side; you go on posting to the channel from the app.

For the full plan of what to send on which tool, read our WhatsApp marketing strategy for Indian businesses. Agencies that run social media for local clients can add channel management to that work and offer API campaigns under their own brand through a white-label WhatsApp platform.