Admin-only mode and other group permissions: how to check and change them

You can use the Whapi.Cloud API to check whether a group is in admin-only mode (only admins can send messages, also called announcement mode) and to turn it on or off.

Checking the current setting

Call GET /groups/{GroupID} and look for the announcements field in the response:

• "announcements": true — only admins can send messages.

• No announcements field — everyone can send messages.

API reference: Get group, Get groups

Changing the setting

Call PATCH /groups/{GroupID} with this body:

{
  "setting": "send_messages",
  "policy": "admins"
}

Set policy to admins to restrict messaging to admins, or to anyone to let all participants write.

curl --request PATCH \
  --url https://gate.whapi.cloud/groups/{GroupID} \
  --header 'accept: application/json' \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"setting": "send_messages", "policy": "admins"}'

Your channel must be an admin of the group to change this or any other group permission.

API reference: Update group setting

Other group permissions

The group object has more permission fields. The Values column shows how each one reads: most are present only while the restriction is on, while joinApprovalMode is always returned as true or false. To change them, use the same PATCH request with a different setting:

Restriction	Field in the GET response	Values	setting in PATCH
Only admins can send messages	announcements	true — on; field missing — off	send_messages
Only admins can add participants	adminAddMemberMode	true — on; field missing — off	add_participants
Only admins can edit group info (subject, description, icon)	restricted	true — on; field missing — off	edit_group_info
Admins must approve new members who join via the invite link	joinApprovalMode	true — on; false — off	approve_participants

policy is admins or anyone for all of them.