Overview You can control who can send messages and edit group information. This includes setting the group to announcement-only mode or restricting who can change group settings.
Only group admins can modify group settings.
Authentication This endpoint requires authentication via the apikey header.
Your Evolution API key for authentication.
Path Parameters The name of your WhatsApp instance.
Request Body The WhatsApp group JID (can be provided with or without the @g.us suffix).
The setting to change. Must be one of:
announcement: Only admins can send messages (enable announcement mode)not_announcement: All members can send messages (disable announcement mode)locked: Only admins can edit group info (subject, description, picture)unlocked: All members can edit group info Response Whether the setting was updated successfully.
The group’s WhatsApp JID.
The action that was performed.
Current announcement mode status.
Current restriction status for editing group info.
cURL (Enable Announcement Mode)
cURL (Lock Group Info)
JavaScript
Python
curl --request POST \ --url https://api.example.com/group/updateSetting/my-instance \ --header 'apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data '{ "groupJid": "[email protected] ", "action": "announcement" }'
201 Success (Announcement Enabled)
201 Success (Group Info Unlocked)
400 Bad Request
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
{ "success" : true , "groupJid" : "[email protected] " , "action" : "announcement" , "announce" : true , "restrict" : true }
Setting Explanations Announcement Mode announcement
not_announcement
When enabled, only group admins can send messages. Regular members can only read messages. This is useful for broadcast-style groups where you want to limit who can post.
When disabled, all group members can send messages. This is the default setting for most groups.
Group Info Editing When locked, only admins can change the group subject (name), description, and profile picture. Regular members cannot edit these settings.
When unlocked, all members can change the group subject, description, and profile picture.
Usage Notes Combining announcement mode with locked settings creates a fully admin-controlled group where only admins can post and edit.
These settings don’t affect the ability to add or remove participants, which always requires admin permissions.
Additional Endpoints Toggle Disappearing Messages To configure disappearing messages (ephemeral mode):
POST /group/toggleEphemeral/:instanceName
Request body:
Expiration values:
0: Disabled (messages don’t disappear)86400: 24 hours (1 day)604800: 7 days7776000: 90 days