WhatsApp group calls are rolling out to everyone, but don’t ditch Skype just yet

WhatsApp group calls are now rolling out to all, following a test run with a small group of users.
The feature was first announced at Facebook’s F8 conference in May.
Group audio and video calls are limited to four users, so it’s not a Skype replacement just yet.

Facebook originally announced group audio and video calls for WhatsApp back at the F8 conference, before opening it to a subset of users. It looks like the feature is now ready for prime-time as the messaging platform has announced availability for all users.

According to a post on the WhatsApp Blog, the feature started its rollout yesterday (July 30). Sit tight if you haven’t received the functionality just yet, it should appear soon.

Do note that group calls have a four-member limit, so you can’t conduct a large-scale meeting via this route. It’s far from a Slack or Skype call replacement right now, but it could be handy for small groups of family and friends.

To get started, initiate a call or video call with a contact, then tap the add participant icon in the top right corner. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to quickly initiate a call with an entire WhatsApp group. I have a group of four (including myself), so a shortcut would’ve been handy here.

WhatsApp to get handy ‘mark as read’ and ‘mute’ shortcuts in notification shade

WhatsApp has gained quite a few features in 2018 already, from new group chat controls to hiding media from your gallery. The messaging platform isn't done for the year though, because it's gaining two tiny …

The team insists group calls are end-to-end encrypted and will work in a variety of network conditions. It’s unclear which version of the app is required for group calls, but updating to the latest version is always recommended. In any case, I enrolled in the beta programme and received the feature on version 2.18.232.

Other WhatsApp features to have landed in recent months include suspicious link detection, the ability to hide photos from your gallery, and new group admin controls.

What else would you like to see on WhatsApp? Fire away in the comments section below.

from Android Authority https://ift.tt/2KdTIb0
via app promotion

Comments

This week in Android: It’s weird phone week

We got to play with a lot of cool tech at CES 2019 , but little was cooler than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 . Qualcomm had a reference device sporting the new SoC and we were able to put it through its paces , including our very own Speed Test G . The results are impressive. In other big news this week, we found out Motorola is planning on bringing back the Razr phone , made famous in the mid 2000s. We don’t know a lot about the phone itself, but we can make some guesses based on a patent from August of last year. Plus, we look ahead at the future of LG and OnePlus , including a new peculiar accessory for LG . Also, we have good news and bad news about Huawei’s security. Here are your top stories for the week 4:20 – Snapdragon 855 performance and benchmarking: Speed Test G, AnTuTu & Geekbench At CES, Gary Sims previewed the Snapdragon 855 processor in reference hardware. He had some fun with it. 21:45 – You’ll flip for the foldable Motorol...

My product launch wishlist for Instagram, Twitter, Uber and more

‘Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the house, not a feature was stirring from the designer’s mouse . . . Not Twitter! Not Uber, Not Apple or Pinterest! On Facebook! On Snapchat! On Lyft or on Insta! . . . From the sidelines I ask you to flex your code’s might. Happy Xmas to all if you make these apps right. Instagram See More Like This – A button on feed posts that when tapped inserts a burst of similar posts before the timeline continues. Want to see more fashion, sunsets, selfies, food porn, pets, or Boomerangs? Instagram’s machine vision technology and metadata would gather them from people you follow and give you a dose. You shouldn’t have to work through search, hashtags, or the Explore page, nor permanently change your feed by following new accounts. Pinterest briefly had this feature (and should bring it back) but it’d work better on Insta. Web DMs – Instagram’s messaging feature has become the defacto place for sharing memes and trash talk about peopl...

First ever drone-delivered kidney is no worse for wear

Drone delivery really only seems practical for two things: take-out and organ transplants. Both are relatively light and also extremely time sensitive. Well, experiments in flying a kidney around Baltimore in a refrigerated box have yielded positive results — which also seems promising for getting your pad thai to you in good kit. The test flights were conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland there, led by surgeon Joseph Scalea. He has been frustrated in the past with the inflexibility of air delivery systems, and felt that drones represent an obvious solution to the last-mile problem. Scalea and his colleagues modified a DJI M600 drone to carry a refrigerated box payload, and also designed a wireless biosensor for monitoring the organ while in flight. After months of waiting, their study was assigned a kidney that was healthy enough for testing but not good enough for transplant. Once it landed in Baltimore, the team loaded it into the container and had it travel 14 ...

Search This Blog