For organisers · Guide ·
How to move your group chat off WhatsApp
A plan for organisers of associations, clubs and alumni networks: keep everyone, drop the list of phone numbers, and close the old group on a date people knew about.
Why groups move
In many group chats that run on phone numbers, members can see each other’s numbers, and anyone holding an invite link can join until an admin resets it. For a committee of six that rarely matters. In an association of three hundred, it means hundreds of people hold numbers they never asked for, and nobody can say who shared the link that let a stranger in.
Moving is also a chance to write down what the group is for. Most group chats grew without rules, and the organiser ends up enforcing ones nobody agreed to.
1. Write the room down before you invite anyone
Four short answers, agreed with your committee first:
- Purpose. One sentence. “Committee announcements, events and member discussion for the association.”
- Rules. Three to five, numbered, with a version number so a change is visible.
- Retention. How long messages stay: 90 days, a year, or until people delete them.
- Who pays. Nobody, the organiser, or one local sponsor that members can see and hide.
Members should read all four before they join, not discover them later.
2. Decide who can invite, and make links that expire
Let organisers and named committee members issue invitations; nobody else. Make one link per channel (the old group, the newsletter, the printed notice) with an expiry and a use limit, so when a link turns up somewhere it should not, you know which one it was and can revoke it.
3. Announce the move in the old group
One message, pinned. Say why, how, and when the old group stops. For example:
We are moving the association’s chat to a new room from 1 November. Why: members will no longer see each other’s phone numbers, and the rules are written down. How: open this link and pick a name for the room. From 15 November this group becomes read-only.
4. Run both for a few weeks, but post in one place
Keep the old group open while people move, but post every new announcement only in the new room, with a one-line pointer in the old one. A firm end date matters more than the length; two to four weeks suits most groups.
5. Help the people who get stuck
Some members will not install anything until someone shows them. Put the link and a short web address on a printed notice at your next meeting, send it in the email newsletter, and ask one committee member to spend ten minutes helping people at the door.
6. Make the old group read-only, then close it
On the date you announced, restrict the old group so only admins can post, and pin a final message with the new link. Remove it a month later, once late movers have found their way.
Doing this with WLP chat
WLP chat was built around this plan. The Room Passport is step 1 written into the invitation: members read the purpose, rules, retention and sponsor policy before they accept. Passports expire and have use limits, the invitation chain shows which link each member used, and you can revoke a leaked link in one tap. Members pick a name for your room only; nobody enters a phone number or an email, and you never see theirs.
WLP chat is a research prototype today: Prototype security: local demo, not audited E2EE. The first live pilot runs in 3 rooms.
Move your group with us
Three questions, and we reply within two working days. Nothing is charged to request a room.