In one of its tweets in early 2021, WhatsApp reported over 100 billion messages are sent and received by its users each day. This small piece of data is proof of the growing popularity of the messaging giant. But, do we need any evidence to know how much we use WhatsApp?
Sending messages on WhatsApp is something we all do every day. We rely on WhatsApp so much that for many of us, WhatsApp is the only application for communication, after the inbuilt SMS app, which we seldom use. This is quite justified, as WhatsApp is a messaging app at its heart. However, some areas of improvement still exist when it comes to bulk messaging over WhatsApp.
You might often want to send a message to many, or say, all of your Contacts at once. How do you do that? One of the options WhatsApp provides is the Broadcast feature. While the Broadcast feature helps you send messages to a lot of people at once, it has its shortcomings.
Let’s look at how the Broadcast feature on WhatsApp works, why it might not be very useful, and what other alternatives WhatsApp provides to send messages to bulk recipients. So, let’s get right into it.
How to Send Message to Multiple Contacts Without Broadcast on Whatsapp
There are some alternatives to the Broadcast feature that can help you send messages to all your contacts at the same time. Let’s discuss them one by one.
1. WhatsApp Groups
Groups are arguably the most popular feature of WhatsApp, after messages, of course. With groups, you can not only send messages to many people simultaneously but also chat with them and get their replies at the same place.
Unlike Broadcast lists, there is no host in a WhatsApp group. Everyone can send messages in the group, and everyone else can reply to others’ messages within the group. A group facilitates multi-way conversations among the group members.
The process of creating a group is very similar to that of creating a Broadcast list. Here’s how you can create a group to communicate with many people at the same time.
Step 1: Open the WhatsApp app on your phone. You will find yourself at the Chats tab.
Step 2: Tap on the three dots at the top-right corner of the screen. A list of options will appear.
Step 3: Select the option: New group. You will then see a list of your contacts arranged alphabetically.
Step 4: Select the contacts you want to add to the group, then tap on the Arrow icon at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Step 5: Choose a name and photo for your group and tap on the Tick button to create the group.
Groups are different from Broadcast lists. But some features (or limitations) are common to both Broadcast lists and Groups. Just like Broadcast lists, groups also have a maximum limit of 256 participants. Further, just as in Broadcast lists, you can only select individual contacts one by one, and there is no option to select all the contacts at once.
2. Copy and send messages on WhatsApp Web
This is a method you might already know about. But the copy-paste method works somewhat more easily on the WhatsApp Web version. So, let’s see how it works:
Step 1: Open a browser on your desktop and go to https://web.whatsapp.com. You will see a QR code on the webpage.
Step 2: Now, open WhatsApp on your phone.
Step 3: On the Chats tab, tap on the three dots at the top-right corner and select Linked Devices.
Step 4: Next, tap on the button LINK A DEVICE. Your camera will open.
Step 5: Point your phone’s camera at the QR Code on your desktop’s screen. You will get logged in to your WhatsApp account on the web version.
Step 6: Then, type the message you want to send and send it to one of your contacts.
Step 7: Copy the sent message by selecting the message using your mouse or trackpad and pressing Ctrl+C keys from your keyboard.
Step 8: Go to each person’s chat and press Ctrl+V. Then hit Enter/Return to send. Repeat this step for each person to send the message to your Contacts Without typing the same message each time.
3. Forward Messages
This is another method that doesn’t need any introduction. Most of you already know about this method, but this one also deserves mention since we are talking about all the methods. However, this one is a bit more tedious. Open WhatsApp on your phone and follow these steps:
Step 1: Send a message to any one of your contacts.
Step 2: Then, tap and hold the message until some options appear at the top. Tap on the Forward icon, which is a right-sided curved arrow.
Step 3: Select the contacts to send the messages, and then hit the Send button.
Keep in mind that through the Forward option, you can only select up to five contacts at a time. To send a message to more than five people, you have to send it in groups of five people at once.
4. Send a Status Update
Sending a Status Update might not be the same as sending a message, but it is a way to send your message to all your contacts at once. If you want to share an important update with all your contacts in one go, sharing a Status Update is one of the best options available. To send a text to your Status on Whatsapp:
Step 1: Open WhatsApp and swipe left to go to the Status tab.
Step 2: Tap on the pencil icon at the bottom-right corner, just above the Camera icon.
Step 3: Type your message and hit the Send button. Your status update will be sent.
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