WhatsApp Enhances Video Calling with New Features

The new features include an enhanced screen-sharing capability, a higher participant limit, and a speaker spotlight function.

Meta-owned WhatsApp has unveiled three significant updates to its video calling feature, aligning it more closely with competitors such as Zoom, FaceTime, and Google Meet. The new features include an enhanced screen-sharing capability, a higher participant limit, and a speaker spotlight function. WhatsApp first introduced screen-sharing in August last year. Now, it has added audio-sharing support, enabling users to share videos with sound during calls, enhancing the experience for family and friend interactions. This improvement makes watching videos together more seamless and interactive.

The platform has also expanded its participant limit, now allowing up to 32 people to join a single video call across all devices. Previously, this limit was available only on mobile devices, with Windows and MacOS users restricted to 16 and 8 participants, respectively. This update puts WhatsApp on par with Apple's FaceTime, though still behind Google Meet and Zoom, which support up to 100 participants even on their basic tiers.

Another notable addition is the speaker spotlight feature, which automatically highlights the active speaker during a call, bringing them to the forefront of the screen. This function is designed to make conversations clearer and more engaging. Additionally, Meta has introduced a new codec called Meta Low Bitrate (MLow) to WhatsApp, aimed at improving call reliability, especially for users with poor network connectivity or older devices. This codec, already in use on Instagram and Messenger calls, promises to deliver twice the audio quality with 10% lower computational complexity compared to the previously used Opus codec.

These updates represent Meta's ongoing commitment to enhancing user experience and maintaining competitiveness in the rapidly evolving video calling market.