WhatsApp announced several new features that promise “improved calling” for its users. They include 32-person calls, and even some design changes “for a more seamless calling experience”.
“That’s why over the course of this year we’ve launched several improvements to calling on WhatsApp, for catching up with your loved ones, colleagues and communities securely,” said WhatsApp in their press release.
Features for better group calls
With WhatsApp’s new update, you will soon be able to make video calls with up to 32 people. It’s about four times the number of people than before, as you’re able to just make a group call with 7 others.
Additionally, long pressing on a participant in a group call will enlarge the video or audio feed. You can use the enlarged feed to either mute or message them separately while the call is still going.
And you might have been able to do this feature already, but WhatsApp introduced call links. That means that you can make call links like how you would on Zoom or Google Meet, and send those links to the participants you want rather than add them to a group call straightaway.
Other features WhatsApp introduced include more colourful waveforms that lets you easily see who’s speaking if the camera is off, in-call banner notifications if someone new has joined a call, and even picture-in-picture on iOS—which WhatsApp is now testing in beta and rolling out next year.
As always, all calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default to protect people’s privacy and safety. We’ll keep making improvements next year as we continue supporting high quality, private calling on WhatsApp wherever you are in the world,” continued WhatsApp.
