Photo Credit: Reuters
WhatsApp is rolling out a new update to users on iOS that improves the group calling experience on the popular messaging platform. The Meta-owned chat application previously increased the number of group call participants to 32, allowing more users to join a call. Until now, users could only choose to invite 15 group members to join a call. After installing the latest WhatsApp for iOS update, users should be able to invite up to 31 group participants to join a call, according to details shared by a feature tracker.
According to feature tracker WABetaInfo, the latest stable version of the app, WhatsApp for iOS 23.22.72, comes with one notable change — the ability to initiate a group conversation with up to 31 participants. The changelog for the app doesn't actually mention the new limit on calling group members, but includes other recently added features and functionality.
With the latest update, WhatsApp now lets you start a group call with up to 31 participants — effectively making it easy to start a group call than on older versions of the app. Previously, WhatsApp would only allow you to initiate a group call with only up to 15 participants — other members could join the call manually.
Gadgets 360 was unable to confirm that the option to start a new group call on the app allows one to pick up to 31 participants as the latest version of the app available in India at the time of writing was version 23.21.79 — this is the version of the app that was released last week. If the feature is not enabled on your phone after updating to the latest release, you might have to wait for a few days (or weeks) before the new functionality rolls out to your account or app.
WhatsApp has been rolling out new features over the past few weeks, including the ability to log in with multiple accounts on the same smartphone and support for passkeys on Android. Users who have two phone numbers will finally be able to sign up for WhatsApp with their second number, using the same app.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp is making it much easier for users to log back in to the app on Android with support for passkeys and their fingerprint — a secure form of authentication designed to eliminate the use of passwords and use public key cryptography to safeguard user information. Support for passkeys has begun rolling to on Android and the feature integrates with Google's password manager — there's no word on whether this feature will be available on iOS as part of a future update.
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