WhatsApp has announced some new updates for video calls in the app, including expanded group chats, improved screen-sharing, and speaker highlights.
The main addition is its expansion of group video calls from 15 to 32 participants.
WhatsApp’s group call limit has always been 32, but now, more participants can be displayed on screen, facilitating enhanced interaction in your group chats.
WhatsApp’s also adding screen sharing with audio, so you can watch video content as a group within a WhatsApp group call. That’ll be handy for watching presentations, or just the latest movies with friends.
It’s also adding a new “Speaker Spotlight” element which will spotlight who’s talking in a video chat.
Which, at 32 participants, is a handy update.
In addition to this, WhatsApp says that it’s also working to improve its video quality:
“We recently launched MLow codec which improves call reliability. Calls made on mobile devices benefit from improved noise and echo cancellation, making it easier to have calls in noisy environments, and video calls have higher resolution for those with faster connections. Audio is crisper overall, even if you have poor network connectivity or are using an older device.”
So better video, more participants, and more ways to engage in video chats.
It’s a good update for WhatsApp, which will provide more considerations as to how you can use the messaging platform to facilitate community engagement.
And with WhatsApp also seeing solid growth in Western markets, there’s now more opportunity than ever to use the platform to connect
