New functions: WhatsApp becomes a video conferencing tool
WhatsApp gets a feature update. Parent company Meta is giving its messenger app some improvements in terms of image and sound. There will also be some new features for video calls.
WhatsApp is becoming a bit like Zoom. That's the impression you might get when you open the app soon. As the company announced on its blog, it is expanding video calling on its messenger.
Watch videos together with more people
WhatsApp is increasing the number of possible participants in video calls. Up to 32 people can now take part in a call at the same time. They must be in the same group to do so.
Source: blog.whatsapp.com
You can share your screen. This is nothing new - but it now also works with sound. This means that, as with the Chinese conference software Zoom, for example, you can run videos and everyone in the call can hear and see them. WhatsApp has also introduced the so-called Spotlight function. As with Microsoft Teams, people who are currently speaking are then highlighted.
New codec for audio and video quality
WhatsApp has improved in recent years in terms of voice quality when making calls. But it is not optimal. The developers now want to change this. Background noise, echoes and the general quality of audio and video calls are to be improved with the new MLow codec. WhatsApp provides more details on this here.
The update will be rolled out gradually over the coming weeks. Although WhatsApp has not revealed anything about the operating systems, you can assume that both Android smartphones and iPhones will be covered. WhatsApp also does not mention in the blog post the order in which this will happen or whether the update will come at the same time.
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.