WhatsApp launches group video feature for all users on Android and iOS

July 31, 2018 BusinessTrumpet

WhatsApp has launched a group video call feature for its popular chat app.

From today, Android and iOS users are able to make four-person video or voice calls with contracts across the globe.

Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, brought a similar group video chat feature to its own Facebook Messenger service back in December 2016.

To start a group video call in WhatsApp, users will need to first launch a one-on-one call with a single contact.

To do this, open the text conversation with the contact you want to video call and tap the camera icon at the top of the screen.

WhatsApp has launched a group video call feature for its popular chat app. From today, Android and iOS users are able to make four-person video or voice calls with contracts across the globe

As soon as the call is established, users can add up to two more people using the button in the top right-hand corner of the interface.

This brings up a screen where users can search for, or select another contact to add to the call.

If prompted, tap the ‘Add’ button next to the name of the person.

The ability to make voice and video group calls is slowly rolling-out across the world, so don’t panic too much if the update hasn’t dropped on your device just yet.

WhatsApp first announced plans to introduce group voice and video calling at the Facebook F8 developer conference, held in San Jose, in May.

Group calls are end-to-end encrypted, just like messages, documents, photos, and videos transferred on the platform.

To start a group video call in WhatsApp, users will need to first launch a one-on-one call with a single contact

HOW DO YOU START A GROUP VIDEO CALL ON WHATSAPP?

To start a group call, users need to first launch a one-on-one call with a single WhatsApp contact.

To do this, open the text conversation with the contact you want to video call and tap the camera icon at the top of the screen.

As soon as the call is established, users can add up to two more people using the button in the top right-hand corner of the interface.

This brings up a screen where users can search for, or select another contact to add to the call.

When prompted, hit the ‘Add’ button.

‘You can make a group call with up to four people total – anytime and anywhere’, WhatsApp announced in an official blog post about the feature.

‘Just start a one-on-one voice or video call and tap the new “add participant” button in the top right corner to add more contacts to the call.

‘Group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and we’ve designed calling to work reliably around the world in different network conditions’.

The ability to make video calls in WhatsApp was first launched in 2016.

According to the company, WhatsApp users worldwide collectively spend around two billion minutes a day making voice and video calls.

‘We’re introducing this feature because we know that sometimes voice and text just aren’t enough,’ the company said at the time.

‘There’s no substitute for watching your grandchild take her first steps, or seeing your daughter’s face while she’s studying abroad.’

At the end of last year, the ability to make group voice and video calls feature was first spotted in the an early beta version of the messaging app by leakster group WABetaInfo.

The anonymous group revealed that WhatsApp was ‘internally working’ on a group voice-calling feature in the 2.17.70 beta release of the chat app.

‘There are a lot of hidden references about group voice calls, but there is only one reference about group video calls,’ WABetaInfo tweeted.

The ability to add up to three people to video and voice calls comes less than a month after WhatsApp pushed-out its last update to users worldwide.

HOW CAN YOU MANAGE GROUP CHATS ON WHATSAPP?

WhatsApp has found a way to help users keep track of long group chats.

The app now has a ‘group catch up’ tool that lets users quickly scroll to messages that mention them or reply to ones they’ve previously written.

To do this, users should tap on the @ button that appears at the bottom right corner of the chat.

The Facebook-owned messaging service has also created a brief description outlining the aim of the chat.

This can be found using the ‘Add group description’ option in the ‘Group Info’ section.

This appears when a new person joins.

There is also a control that allows the group admin(s) to restrict who can change the group’s subject, icon and description which can be changed under ‘Group Settings’.

Admins can also remove admin permissions of other participants and people who created groups can no longer be removed from them.

Group creators can now no longer be removed from the groups they started, the company said.

A participant search feature also means users can find any one else in the group by searching for participants on the group information page.

This feature is available under the ‘Group Info’ section. There is a ‘search’ button next to the list of participants.

In order to update WhatsApp on iPhone and get these features, users must go into the App Store and click on ‘updates’ at the bottom.

WhatsApp will appear in a scroll-down list and users can click ‘update’ next to the icon to get the latest features.

On Android, users need to go to the Google Play store and choose ‘My apps & games’.

On the installed apps list they should tap ‘WhatsApp’ and then click on ‘Update’.

The new software granted group admins the power to block annoying people from sending messages inside group chats.

Those with the latest version of the chat app can flick a switch that means only other admins can send messages to a group, turning it into a simple message board for those without the necessary privileges to participate.

The feature is limited to a broad block for all group participants for the time being, meaning admins cannot take messaging priveleges from individual members.

This could help to limit the number of annoying messages you receive by culling the number of people who can contribute to a group chat.