WhatsApp Testing Enhancements To Initiate Video And Audio Calls With Up To 31 People In One Go; Why It's Important?

WhatsApp, which continues to grab headlines for new feature testing, is again in the news for an enhancement for video calls. The company is rolling out an option to start group calls with up to 31 accounts in beta, according to WABetaInfo. Meta's instant messaging app is testing the feature on Android beta version '2.23.19.16'.

Besides the increased limit, slight improvements to the calls tab are also available in the update. Enrolled testers can head to the Google Play Store to download the update. The report notes that it may also be available in some previous versions of the testing build.

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In the latest stable Android build, the option to initiate group calls with up to 15 people is available. Users can tap on the green call icon at the bottom right within the 'Calls' header, then tap 'New group call' and select up to 15 participants to initiate an audio or video call. But with the update, this number will increase to 31.

Besides the increased limit for group calls, slight improvements to the calls tab are also available in the update. (Image:Unsplash)

The text 'Select up to 31 people' in the screengrab confirms the availability of the option. Secondly, the tab to generate a call link has been replaced with the - 'New call'. This enables users to "call one or more of your contacts". Thirdly, the floating button at the bottom right now has a '+' symbol rather than calls and a small plus icon.

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The option to initiate calls with more people will speed up the process of adding more people to the app. It is expected to arrive on the stable build after thorough testing in the beta build.

However, a user must note that the company already allows up to 32 people on calls, but users can only select 15 in the first iteration to make a video or audio call. The new feature will help eliminate this limitation and allow users to initiate calls with up to 31 people right from the start. On a related note, the company is also rolling out WhatsApp Channels in India. You can read more on this here.