WhatsApp has been testing a group video/voice call feature for quite some time now – the feature was announced back in Facebook’s F8 2018 Conference held in May
The feature is now rolling out and you should be able to get it too by updating WhatsApp on your iPhone or Android device (version 2.18.61 for iOS and version 2.18.192 for Android beta) unless of course, it already updated itself.
The instant messaging platform has the biggest market share and was among the first chatting services for smartphones.
Group Call Unrolled
The move to group calling was only natural after the app added support for regular video/voice calls. Facebook – WhatsApp’s parent company – has to keep the app up-to-date so that users can stick to it without having to rely on an alternative. This will surely cause trouble for group-call enabled competitors, especially Skype, and increase WhatsApp’s monthly usage.
Anyway, it’s easy to use and you can add up to three people in a group call. Here’s how,
- You will need to make a call first to a single contact, once you are on the voice/video call screen look for an icon on the top-right of the screen.
- Tapping the icon takes you to your contact list, Select the contact you wish to add into the call.
- The screen will show you both the participants at once, receivers can also add people to the call.
- For voice calls, follow the exact same steps.
The feature was already available for WhatsApp beta users, but now the regular version on Google Play Store and iTunes App Store will also support this feature. Do note that all participants need to have the latest version of the app for group calling to work.
Currently, the latest version of the app, supporting group voice and video calling is not available in Pakistan and will be released in the next few days.
