WhatsApp announced some new features for its group call service some days ago. The Meta-owned messaging platform announced the new features on its Twitter page and they include:
- the ability to mute others
- the ability to message specific people and
- seeing a banner when someone joins offscreen
Will CathCart, head of WhatsApp. also announced the new features on his Twitter page.
These features essentially would help to make group calling easier for more users especially being able to mute people when they forget to do it themselves.
With respect to the new feature where you see a banner when someone joins offscreen, WhatsApp says “This way, you will know when a new person joins and who they are, even if you are on a big call and the person is not one of the names fixed on your screen.” The messaging app launched the ability for users to join group calls that have already begun in July 2021.
As per the ability to mute others, this feature is different from other group conferencing apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Whilst these only allow the host to mute all participants or specific ones, the WhatsApp feature allows other users to mute others on a group voice call.
On the WhatsApp group call, you can allow a maximum of eight (8) people on a video call and thirty two (32) on voice calls.
The messaging also introduced new options in the privacy control settings. You can now select people that can see your profile photo, about and last seen status.
You can now set your last seen, profile photo, about, or status to the following options:
- Everyone: Your last seen, profile photo, about, or status will be available to all WhatsApp users.
- My Contacts: Your last seen, profile photo, about, or status will be available to your contacts from your address book only.
- My Contacts Except…: Your last seen, profile photo, about, or status will be available to your contacts from your address book, except those you exclude.
- Nobody: Your last seen, profile photo, about, or status won’t be available to anyone.
