Today, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, announced that WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that allows a user to join WhatsApp calls through a link with a single tap.
In the Facebook post, Zuckerberg said, “We’ve also started testing secured and encrypted group video calls for up to 32 people on WhatsApp.”
Before now, WhatsApp only allowed a limited number of 8 participants to perform a video call. The CEO says the company is now testing 32-person encrypted video calls. This extended group call feature, Meta had announced back in April, but now it seems to be rolling it out for a limited set of users.
In order to create a link to a call, users can tap the Create call links option within the Calls Tab and create a link for an audio or video call and share it with family and friends. Notably, the rollout will begin this week and users must have the latest version of the WhatsApp app to make it work.
In July, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature where the users can join a group video or voice call even after its started, and you see the participants in a video call screen the way you see on various communication apps.
WhatsApp said that the ‘Joinable calls’ reduce the burden of answering a group call as it starts, and brings the spontaneity and ease of in-person conversations to group calling on WhatsApp.
If someone in your group misses a call when the phone rings, they can still join whenever they like. You can also drop-off and re-join so long as the call is still ongoing.
The instant messaging platform is also planning to bring a new feature which is an ability to create a sticker pack of your face, among other features.
According to a report from WABetaInfo, Meta has been working to bring Avatars one WhatsApp.
The Avatar was first introduced by Meta for Facebook and Instagram earlier this year. This allowed users to create a cartoon avatar of themselves.
The report further suggests that in the future, users would be able to use Avatar as a mask on video calls. However, users may soon be able to use these cartoon avatars with their faces as stickers during conversations.
