WhatsApp Improving Video Calling With Support for More People, Picture in Picture

Popular Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp today announced several improvements to video and audio calling, putting it on par with other platforms that support video calls.

Whatsapp Feature
WhatsApp video calls on mobile devices now support up to 32 people, four times more than the previous eight person limit. Audio calls have supported 32 people for some time, but now video calls will as well. Apple's own FaceTime app supports 32 person video calls, so WhatsApp will now be able to better compete with ‌FaceTime‌ for large group video chats.

Long pressing on a participant in the call will enlarge the audio or video feed so you can mute people on a case by case basis or message them privately, and there's now an option to share a call link with people, something that's also an existing ‌FaceTime‌ feature.

There are new in-call banner notifications to alert users when someone new has joined a call, and for those with their camera off, waveforms are more colorful to make it easier to see who is speaking.

WhatsApp is also testing an iOS picture in picture feature that will allow WhatsApp users to multitask and use other apps while remaining on a video call, with this option set to roll out more widely in 2023.

WhatsApp for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
26 months ago
How about WhatsApp on an iPad? Please make it happen. Long overdue!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Love-hate ? relationship Avatar
26 months ago
when will they finally launch the ARM built on catalyst for mac ?

and maybe we'll see an ipad version in 2030 ?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shanghaichica Avatar
26 months ago
They need to improve the video quality
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Love-hate ? relationship Avatar
26 months ago
this is whatsapp catalyst on Mac btw . beta



Attachment Image
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ian87w Avatar
26 months ago

4 Android users get their chats stored on Google drive free, why do we on iCloud have to use our storage?
Probably due to some deal Whatsapp had with Google. Before the availability of e2ee, Google Drive whatsapp backup is practically plain text, and you can imagine the amount of data Google crawled. Nothing is free.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
visualseed Avatar
26 months ago

Governments use Whatsapp? That's scary.
In Europe many public services use text interfaces to their normal IVR systems through whatsapp business to offer services to users based on their phone number on file. It's great for looking up information and getting account statues. It means they don't have have massive call centers and requests that require human assistance can go into a message queue that is much easier to manage on both ends than waiting on hold.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)