With the debut of an enterprise-friendly voice chat upgrade, WhatsApp users will be able to host audio calls with up to 128 people.

It is not meant to be as disturbing as a group call, although being comparable. Unlike traditional WhatsApp group calls, which ring all group members, this new feature causes an in-chat bubble to appear on each member’s screen, which users can press to participate.

Users can message members of the group chat who are unable to join while using voice to debate a topic with the others who can. By using the call controls at the top of the chat screen, users can unmute, hang up, or message the other members of the group without ever leaving the voice chat.

By going to a group chat and choosing the audio read-out toggle in the upper right corner of the screen, users can initiate a group voice chat. Users will have the option to “Start Voice Chat” there.

According to WhatsApp, this feature is limited to the user’s primary smartphone, which may be an iOS or Android device. Calls will automatically terminate as soon as each party walks out. Furthermore, if no one else joins the first or final person in the chat, they end after an hour.

Larger than usual groups of individuals can communicate over voice chat on WhatsApp thanks to functions that are similar in design to those on other UCC platforms like Discord, Slack, and Telegram. This feature may be useful in corporate settings like conferences, meetings, or large-scale huddles.

Over the next few weeks, WhatsApp will start offering voice chats to large groups, starting with those with at least 33 members. The voice conversations in large groups will be end-to-end encrypted, just like WhatsApp’s other services.

The Expanding Enterprise Features of WhatsApp

News of WhatsApp’s attempts to enable cross-platform messaging in accordance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which was passed earlier this year, first surfaced in September.

A September beta version of WhatsApp for Android (23.23.19.8) featured a panel labeled “Third-party chats.” Although users couldn’t access the screen, its presence served as concrete proof that Meta was attempting to make WhatsApp compatible with other operating systems.

While it is likely that Meta would have refrained from enabling cross-platform compatibility for WhatsApp if the Digital Markets Act had not compelled it, it is possible that Meta unintentionally maintains a 2023 trend of the end-to-end encrypted messaging network becoming more and more enterprise-friendly.

WhatsApp bridged the gap to more conventional business communications and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom in August by introducing a call scheduling feature within group chats.

With the help of this new feature, WhatsApp group users can now schedule calls and automatically alert other participants, making communication more comfortable and effective.

By hitting the call button, users could arrange calls with this capability. Next, users could choose the sort of group call-voice or video-as well as add a call subject and schedule a time. An event will be automatically established in the group chat for other participants to view after individuals confirm the planned group call data. Members of the group would then be notified fifteen minutes before the start of the call.

When it launched a screen-sharing function in May that let other users see a user’s phone screen during a video chat, WhatsApp took aim at other messaging services like Teams.

Screen sharing represented a big advancement for WhatsApp, whose communications features had previously been very simple, even if it was already accessible on Teams, Google Meet, and other conventional video conference systems.

When a user touches the screen sharing tab on the bottom navigation bar-which is located between the flip camera and switch-off video icons-a prompt requesting to “start recording or casting with WhatsApp?” will appear. After that, in order to begin screen sharing, the user must click the “Start now” option.

Other features of WhatsApp that are worth checking out are its business catalogues, quick video messaging, automated personalized messaging, and message editing.