WhatsApp ‘Group Voice Chats’: Check How This Feature Works?

Web Desk — WhatsApp users will soon be able to enjoy ‘voice chats’, similar to Discord’s voice channel.

Different from existing voice call or voice notes, the upcoming feature will let group participants engage in audio chats. This feature is currently available to those few WhatsApp beta users for Android 2.23.16.19.

Similar to group calls, voice chats will send a push notification instead of ringing everyone in the group.

Currently, the beta version has limited the number of participants to only 32, but it may change once the feature is officially launched.

Users can join or leave whenever they like as we see in Twitter Spaces and Discord voice channels. The group icon in the chat list will change to a waveform icon and show a ‘connect’ button when a user starts a voice chat. A user can join the real-time discussion with a dedicated interface by just clicking a button.

Voice chats will remain active for an hour once everyone leaves, but group members can start whenever they want.

Voice chats will be encrypted end-to-end but won’t appear as a full-screen call-style notification. So, in Voice chats, users are not required to add others manually.

According to WABetaInfo voice chats may not be available for groups comprising less than 32 participants, but WhatsApp might change the minimum participant limit later.

WhatsApp has been testing new features such as the ability to log in via email, send video messages, and a faster way to transfer chats between phones without relying on Google Drive.

Users can report specific messages sent to the group to admins so that they can be removed, once this feature is enabled.