Facebook-owned WhatsApp back at the F8 in May said that it will roll out group calling feature in coming months, and started testing the feature soon after. Today it has announced that it has started rolling out the group calls for voice and video for everyone starting today.
You can make a group call with up to four people total. Here’s how it works
- Start a one-on-one voice or video call
- Tap the new “add participant” button in the top right corner and tap Add participants
- Search for or select another contact you want to add to the call
- When you receive a group voice / video call, the incoming WhatsApp voice or video call screen will show the participants currently on the call, and the first contact listed will be the participant that added you.
- During a group voice call, you won’t be able to switch the call to a video call
- During a group video call, you have the option to turn your camera off by tapping the Turn off camera icon.
- You can’t remove a contact during a group voice / video call. The contact would need to hang up their phone to disconnect from the call
- Group voice / video call history will appear in the calls tab. You can tap the call history to view the individual contacts from the call
- While it’s possible to be in a group voice / video call with someone you’ve blocked, you can’t add a contact to the call that you’ve blocked or a contact that has blocked you.
WhatsApp said that group calls are end-to-end encrypted, similar to the messages. It added that it has designed calling to work reliably around the world in different network conditions.
Since it has started rolling out for Android and iOS from today, it should be available for everyone over the next few days.