WhatsApp Announces Group Voice and Video Call for Android and iOS

• Social messaging app WhatsApp readies itself to take on Facetime’s group call feature with its own voice and video call features for groups.
• WhatsApp announced the feature in the official blog and revealed that over 2 billion minutes are spent on the platform for video calls.
• Up to four users can be part of one group voice or video call, which is significantly lower than Facetime’s offering in the upcoming iOS 12 update which will allow 32 users.

Two months after its first announcement, group video and voice calling is finally making it into the latest version of WhatsApp. The popular social messaging app keeps getting better and better with new features that users love. The Facebook-owned messaging app revealed that users are now spending over 2 billion minutes per day on voice calls and with the new features going live, we can expect the number to rise sharply.

Earlier this year at the WWDC, Apple announced that the Facetime app would be getting a major update that would allow up to 32 users to be in a video or voice call. However, WhatsApp seems to have beaten Apple in the race to push out the feature for its own app. But unlike Facetime, WhatsApp will also allow only a maximum of 4 users to get into a video call via the Groups feature.

WhatsApp confirmed that just like the app’s messaging features, calls will be secured using end-to-end encryption. The feature has also been optimized to ensure users who are using the app in less than perfect network conditions can also take advantage of the video and voice calling features. The update is already rolling out to Android and iOS users. Simply start a one-on-one voice or video call and tap the new “Add Participant” button to add anyone from your contacts to the call. The social messaging app has been receiving a ton of updates for groups recently with new admin controls being added as well as a “catch up” feature to quickly browse through messages you may have missed in group chats.

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