Does WhatsApp’s development team ever sleep? According to WABetaInfo’s latest slew of news, apparently not. We’re not complaining, because that dedication to the messenger means we get to play with a steady flow of updates, most of which we’d classify as ‘good’.
The latest new feature, brought to our attention by WABetaInfo, is still confined to WhatsApp’s Android Beta program. It involves voice chats – a feature seemingly on WhatsApp’s backburner for months. The idea is to bring 32-person voice chats to the app, catching up to other apps like Discord, Telegram and Meta’s Messenger, all of which offer similar features.
What is this? Discord?
If it sounds like we’re describing a 32-person group phone call, you’re not far off. While not exactly the same, the feature is reminiscent of Discord’s voice chat features and offers a more informal vibe than a regular phone call. For one, creating a ‘voice chat’ will send a push notification to each member’s phone, rather than letting their phones ring.
Members can come and go in a voice chat as they please, as long as the total number of members doesn’t exceed 32. Voice chats will stay open as long as a member is inside and self-destructs after an hour of being empty. These calls are protected by the same end-to-end encryption you’d find on the app’s other features.
Read More: WhatsApp’s new update lets users send each other short video messages – here’s how it works
According to WABetaInfo, the feature is available through the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.16.19, though WhatsApp has begun rolling it out to some stable-version users already. To find out if you’re one of the few, open a group chat on WhatsApp and search for a waveform symbol in the top right. If you have it, tapping it will create a voice chat. If you don’t… the update will allegedly begin rolling out to more users over the coming days and weeks.
