KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 ― After Facebook announced new features to help with long distance communication for Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp with varying release dates, you can now update your WhatsApp application. The new update will be able to give you the option to talk to eight people at once on WhatsApp group calls.
Previously, WhatsApp would only support up to four people in a group call. Now, group video and voice calling for you and seven friends has been released on both iOS and Android.
“Group video and voice calls now support up to eight participants. All participants need to be on the latest version of WhatsApp,” wrote WhatsApp in the iOS release notes for the new update. They also note that the update will feature “visual improvements for iOS 13 users, including updated message action menu.”
To use the newly updated group call feature, press the phone icon with the + on the top right side of the group chat, pick up to 7 people for you to group call with, and then either pick the “video call” option or the “voice call” option.
There’s no note about any updates on if this new feature can also work through WhatsApp Web, and there doesn’t seem to be any difference in the web version. All new updates are only affecting your phone’s app.
However, even though WhatsApp doesn’t offer the larger number of participants available on services like Zoom, WhatsApp’s more robust encryption will draw users to use the feature. ― SoyaCincau
