How To Make WhatsApp Group Calls

Being able to stay in touch while social distancing is really important, and with the extended lockdown, we’ve come to rely on apps that help us make group calls. Beyond messaging, WhatsApp’s encryption extends to voice and video calls as well. As the platform explains, “just like your messages, WhatsApp calls are end-to-end encrypted so WhatsApp and third parties can’t listen to them.” As we all rely ever more on video calls to replace face-to-face meet-ups, this is a big deal.

On WhatsApp, you can do an audio-only or video group call with up to four people. WhatsApp is a good alternative to Zoom for smaller groups as it uses end-to-end encryption (unlike Zoom).

The issue for users right now is the limit on the number of people who can join in a video call—currently just four. But that’s about to change. As discovered by the ever-vigilant beta code detectives at WABetaInfo, the number of callers is about to increase. The code to expand video calling is buried in both the beta iOS and Android apps, so it’s a change for everyone, but only if all callers have the latest version of the app installed once it’s released.

While the interface looks a little different on Android than it does on iOS, the basic steps for making group calls are the same.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make group calls on WhatsApp:

From the “Calls” section:

• Go to “Calls” by clicking on the phone button at the bottom of the screen
• Tap the button with a phone and a plus sign in the top-right corner of the screen
• Click on “New Group Call”
• This will open up a list of your contacts. You can search through them by typing in the names of the people you want to add into the search bar at the top. Add people to the call by clicking on the circles next to their names.
• Tap the phone button to start an audio call or the video button to start a video call.

From a group chat:

• Click “Chats” on the bottom of your screen and then select a group conversation to open it
• Click on the button that has a phone and a plus sign in the top-right corner
• The names of the members of the group chat will pop up. Select who to add to the call by tapping the circles next to their names.
• Tap the video button to start a video call or the phone button to start an audio call
• 

WhatsApp says this new feature isn’t yet available for everyone; we will update this article once the update has rolled out to our devices.

You can also add more people to a one-on-one call. Here’s how:

• Tap “Chats” toward the bottom-right corner of your screen and then click on a conversation to open it
• Tap the phone button in the top-right corner to start an audio call or the video button to start a video call
• After the person you called has picked up, click on the button with a person and a plus sign in the top-right corner to add people to the call
• This will pull up a list of your contacts. To find someone quickly, type the name of who you want to add to the call into the search bar at the top, which will filter the list of contacts. Click on the name of the person you want to add.
• You may also get a pop-up window asking if you want to add that person to a group call. Tap “Add” to let them join the call.