WhatsApp adds new voice chat for improved group calls

WhatsApp adds new voice chat for improved group calls

A new voice chat option is going to be added to WhatsApp very soon, which will significantly improve the app’s capacity for group conversation. 

Within the next few weeks, this feature will move from beta to official release, with the goal of providing a more user-friendly approach to conducting voice calls in big groups.

WhatsApp’s current functionality enables the application to support voice calls with as many as 32 participants. The upcoming audio chat function, on the other hand, will give a more seamless experience overall and will initially only be available to groups with 33 or more members. Users will not be contacted directly, as with conventional group calls. They will be informed instead through a push notice, and they will be able to participate in the conversation by tapping a bubble within the chat.

Read also: How to set up two-step verification on Whatsapp

How to get a voice conversation started

  1. Launch the group conversation you wish to begin a voice conversation with.
  2. Make a tap in the upper right-hand corner of the display.
  3. Select the Start Voice Chat option.

Once you begin the voice chat, the members of the group will receive a push notification rather than a call inviting them to participate. A banner at the bottom of the screen will let you know who else has entered the voice chat since you last looked at it. After everyone has exited the voice chat, the session will finish by itself automatically. They will also cease if no one joins the first or last person in the chat for a period of one hundred and sixty minutes.

Participants in a voice chat are able to access call controls at the top of the conversation. This ensures that the chat functionality is not impeded in any way, allowing participants to continue to send text messages even while they are participating in a voice chat. These conversations will uphold WhatsApp’s high standard for privacy by encrypting messages from beginning to end, and they can involve as many as 32 participants.

The new function will first focus on bigger group conversations, particularly those including 33 to 128 participants, and is scheduled for distribution on both the iOS and Android operating systems. The choice made by WhatsApp, to begin with larger groups suggests that the existing voice call option, which already effectively serves groups with up to 32 people, can be used by smaller groups that wish to continue communicating with one another.

WhatsApp to end support for older Android devices 

About WhatsApp

The American technology corporation Meta Platforms owns the freeware, cross-platform, centralised instant messaging and voice-over-IP service known as WhatsApp. WhatsApp is also cross-platform. Users are able to communicate with one another via text, voice messages, and video messages; make voice and video calls; share photographs, documents, user locations, and other content; and send and receive voice and video calls.

WhatsApp is used by more than 2 billion people in more than 180 countries to keep in touch with friends and family at any time and from any location. WhatsApp is a free messaging and calling application that is available on phones all around the world. It is straightforward, safe, and dependable. And you’ve already guessed it, but the name WhatsApp is a play on the term “what’s up.”

Both Brian Acton and Jan Koum had previously worked for Yahoo! before to the formation of WhatsApp in February of 2009. After Koum had purchased an iPhone a month earlier, he and Acton made the decision to collaborate on the development of an app for the App Store.