WhatsApp is updating your video calling skills. The Meta-owned platform is upgrading its calls with a new screen-sharing feature, a larger number of participants, and a featured speaker to try to make the platform a more viable competitor to Zoom, FaceTime, and Google Meet.
Screen sharing can be useful for watching videos together, sharing content that can't be easily shared, or troubleshooting your parents' devices. It also allows audio sharing, so you can easily chat with other people while looking at their screen.
WhatsApp also expanded its number of participants to 32 people in video calls. The new limit applies to all platforms. It's a significant increase from the previous limit of eight people, first implemented in 2020 as pandemic lockdowns accelerated.
Featured Speaker is another tweak in the WhatsApp update (which is already a standard feature on many other calling platforms). On a group call, the person speaking appears first in the line of participants and their image is highlighted, making it easy to identify who has the proverbial microphone.
WhatsApp also highlighted its recent change to Low codec for clearer calls. The new compression should clean up noise and echo cancellation, which is useful for noisy environments. Additionally, video calls will be streamed in a higher resolution if your network is fast enough to support it.
