WhatsApp launched several new features last week, including the ability to mute people during group calls (via Android Central). This smart save feature seems useful not only for silencing people who forget to do it themselves, but also if you’re in the same room as someone who’s also on the call and you don’t want to hear what they’re saying. .
While some conferencing applications, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, allow hosts to mute all (or specific) participants, they typically do not provide a way for individual users to mute whoever they want during a call. This feature offers a new level of control that is probably best saved for chaotic meetings involving up to eight people in video calls, or up to 32 in voice calls.
Some new features for group calls on @WhatsApp: You can now mute or send messages to specific people in a call (and great if someone forgets to mute!), And we’ve added a handy indicator so you can see more easily when more people come together. great calls. pic.twitter.com/fxAUCAzrsy
– Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) June 16, 2022
In addition to the new mute feature, WhatsApp now lets you send messages to specific people while on a group call, perhaps if you want to make a note to someone during a meeting or make a joke that might not fly with the whole group. WhatsApp is also launching a new banner that will alert you when someone new has joined a call after it has already started.
The messaging service is building more than just its group calling feature. On Friday, WhatsApp announced that you can now choose which contacts can see your profile picture, envelope, and last viewed status showing the last time you were active on the platform. This could help keep your profile private from professional contacts or anyone who doesn’t want to have access to this information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Last year, WhatsApp began hiding your last seen status from strangers by default due to possible privacy implications.
Earlier this week, WhatsApp finally launched the possibility for Android users to transfer their chat histories to the iPhone after last year the company started allowing users to transfer their chat data to opposite direction (from iPhone to Android).