“Channels isn’t available for you yet” in WhatsApp - what is it?

If you've attempted to try out WhatsApp channels and received the message "Channels isn't available for you yet," you may be wondering what it means. I recently decided to test out this new feature from WhatsApp, and when I tried to join their official WhatsApp channel, I encountered a pop-up notification stating that channels isn't available for me yet, but that they would notify me when it's ready.

Firstly, I tapped on the button to "notify me," but it's important to note that this message doesn't necessarily mean that the feature is unavailable in your country. Instead, it indicates that WhatsApp is slowly rolling out the feature in various markets. It could mean that you will need to wait for a few hours, a day, or even a few weeks before the feature becomes available to you. If after waiting for a few weeks, you still receive the "not available" message, it likely means that the feature is not yet available in your country.

To find out when the feature became available for me, I visited the WhatsApp article titled "WhatsApp channels are going global." Within the article, I tapped on the link for WhatsApp channels, which allowed me to join the channel. If you are able to successfully join the channel without encountering any pop-up notifications, it means that the feature is now available for you. Conversely, if you are unable to join the channel and encounter a pop-up notification, it indicates that the feature is still not yet available.

After I joined the channel, I received a notification stating that the WhatsApp channels feature was now available for me. This happened after I updated and restarted the app, at which point I saw a new updates tab. However, it's worth mentioning that there may still be a few glitches or issues present, including strange pop-up notifications. Additionally, I discovered that I was unable to create my own channel, as the corresponding button was not available. It appears that WhatsApp is releasing the feature in a slow rollout, gradually introducing different sets of features. Hopefully, the ability to create channels will become available soon.

As of now, you can find and follow channels that interest you. In my experience, I had to wait only one day for the feature to become available. I am located in Europe, but I cannot provide an exact list of countries where it should be available. Nevertheless, I hope this information proves helpful to those eagerly awaiting access to WhatsApp channels.