Video calling for 32, with link sharing
When you’re thinking about which app to use to make a video call, utilities like Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet probably come to mind, but is WhatsApp always on your list? For many users, they probably first see it as an instant messaging app, primarily used for texting our contacts, and maybe occasionally calling them when on the move. Meta seems to be looking to raise the profile of the app’s video capabilities, and today Mark Zuckerberg shares word that we’re getting one-tap link sharing for WhatsApp video calls.
WhatsApp is still playing catch-up to Telegram in a lot of ways, recently working on things like Communities, support for large file sharing, and extending multi-device support to tablets. While WhatsApp supports video calling with up to 8 people, Zuckerberg says it’s now experimenting with a liberal 32-participant limit. Starting this week, the company is also rolling out call links, so you can easily distribute a link that people can follow to join your video calls.
We haven’t yet heard any specifics about who can share these call links, how you’ll be able to share them, nor if there will be any limitations to how widespread the rollout is. But despite the unanswered questions, it seems clear WhatsApp really wants to deliver some Google Meet-like functionality, where you can just share a meeting link for participants to join.
Google may have created confusion recently by combining Duo and Meet, but largely, it appears to be blurring the perceived distinction between one-on-one video calling and group calling utilities. WhatsApp may just be in a similar boat, building out its small group video calling utility into a versatile tool for larger groups. Meta “borrowing” features from rival platforms isn’t entirely a bad thing, but we would still love to see a few firsts from these innovative folks, for once.
Hopefully, link sharing will allow people to join video calls even if they aren’t in your contact list, just like things work with Meet. It would also be great to see group call scheduling features on WhatsApp, although that’s been a pipe dream for way too long now. We should start getting some answers soon, as link sharing arrives over the next few days.
