On top of a slew of recent updates, including Android-to-iPhone chat backups, WhatsApp has now added more features to improve group calling.
Specifically, these are for group voice calls and one addition is a pop-up banner notification that makes it obvious that someone has just joined the call. This will happen only when there are too many people already on the call to fit on the screen at the same time.
The second new feature is the ability to mute someone else on the call. That can be useful if they’re not speaking but there’s noise coming from their microphone, such as a dog barking or baby crying. Alternatively, you can simply stop others from chattering when they’re talking over someone else.
Finally, and probably the most useful, is the ability to directly message someone on the call without leaving the call screen. Simply tap on them and choose the ‘Message [person’s name]’ option.
This pop-up is also where you’ll find the mute option.
These changes follow updates to voice messaging earlier this year when WhatsApp added options to pause and resume voice recordings and then preview the message before sending it.
Along with the long-awaited emoji reactions to messages, and the increase to the number of people that can be in a group – now up to 512 – WhatsApp users now have a good selection of much-requested features and, as always, more are on the horizon.
For example, at some point soon, there will be an approval process to manage requests to join WhatsApp groups.