- WhatsApp is rolling out new tweaks to group calls.
- The company announced a new ability to join an ongoing group video call at any time.
- This should make group calls feel a little more seamless or “spontaneous,” as WhatsApp suggests.
If you’re prone to missing group calls started by friends and family, WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature just for you. The company announced a new ability to join an ongoing group call, voice or video, at any time.
“Joinable calls reduce the burden of answering a group call as it starts and brings the spontaneity and ease of in-person conversations to group calling on WhatsApp,” said the company on its blog.
The new feature now allows users to jump into a call that has already started. Joiners can also dip in and out of the call when necessary, provided that the call is still in progress. So there’s no need to feel too guilty taking another call or running a minor errand in the middle of a conversation. Importantly, if you accidentally hit “ignore” on a group call invite, this feature will also let you join from the calls tab at any time.
WhatsApp is also tweaking the call screen to accommodate this feature. The screen will now list the current members of the call, those invited, and those yet to join.
It’s a simple but welcome addition to the group calls feature, which first landed on WhatsApp back in 2018. This update also comes after several new quality-of-life features landed for beta users, including View Once messages and long-awaited multi-device support.
WhatsApp notes that the feature is currently rolling out across the app’s stable channel, so expect to gain the feature at some point this week. If you don’t have WhatsApp installed, grab it using the button below.