WhatsApp Web Finally Rolls Out Group Voice & Video Calls - Desktop Collaboration Just Got Real

Mark Zuckerberg just dropped a productivity bomb—and your office Slack channel might not survive it.

WhatsApp Web, the browser-based sibling to the planet's most-used messaging app, has officially activated group voice and video calling. No more huddling around a single phone during remote meetings. No more awkward 'can everyone hear me?' moments from a tinny mobile speaker. This is native, multi-participant communication, served straight to your Chrome tab.

The End of the Mobile-Only Era

For years, the Web version was a second-class citizen—great for texting, useless for real-time conversation. That limitation forced billions of users onto their phones for any meaningful call, a friction point that competitors like Zoom and Microsoft Teams exploited mercilessly. Today's update isn't just a feature drop; it's a strategic bridgehead. WhatsApp is moving from the pocket to the desktop, from personal chatter to professional workflow.

How It Cuts Through the Noise

The mechanics are deceptively simple. Open a group chat on WhatsApp Web, click the familiar call icon, and choose your weapon: voice or video. The interface mirrors the mobile app's clean design, supporting multiple participants with the same end-to-end encryption promise. It bypasses the need for separate meeting IDs or third-party downloads. Your team is already in the group chat—now you're just one click away from a conference room.

A Quiet Threat to the Subscription Giants

Don't mistake this for just another tech update. This is a direct volley at the paid communication suite market. Why would a small business pay per seat for a basic video call feature when WhatsApp—already installed on every employee's phone—does it for free? The move leverages WhatsApp's monstrous existing network to undercut the pricing models of legacy players. It's classic Meta: use scale as a battering ram.

The feature rollout is global and immediate, requiring no app update beyond the latest version of WhatsApp on your linked phone. It works across Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Meta's play is clear: make WhatsApp the universal comms layer, period. Personal, professional, mobile, desktop—all roads lead back to their platform.

One cynical finance jab? This might be the most tangible value Meta has extracted from its $22 billion WhatsApp acquisition since 2014—better late than never, but Wall Street's patience isn't encrypted, and it's running thin. For users, it's pure utility. Seamless, free, and embedded. The barrier between a text thread and a team huddle just vanished. The real call now is whether your IT department will block it.

Group calling spotted in WhatsApp Web beta

The recent changes to the WhatsApp Web beta show that developers are working on adding voice and video calls for group chats. The feature was partly announced last year, though support for groups remained in its infancy then.

The new group call feature will let web client users join calls from any device. For example, if someone uses a computer that does not belong to them, they can use the web client to make calls without needing to install a desktop app. 

Users will gain control over the call notifications they get from WhatsApp Web through this convenience. Moreover, the ongoing development includes numerous features that the Android and iOS apps currently offer.

According to the source, the new feature is being developed and refined to ensure the best experience at launch.

WhatsApp is developing call links and scheduling

WhatsApp wants to compete with video conferencing apps like Zoom and Google Meet and scheduling tools such as Calendly. The developers of WhatsApp are creating call links or call URLs alongside group calling.

The feature allows users to quickly create a LINK that others can use to join the call. When users create a call link, they can select if it is for a voice or video call, similar to the option available on WhatsApp for Android and iOS.

WhatsApp is also working on a feature that allows users to schedule calls in both individual and group chats. A scheduled call carries a name and description to inform participants about its purpose. Users will have the option to set approximate start and end times when scheduling a call.

WhatsApp Web will generate an event shared with the users involved, so they are informed beforehand when a call is about to start. Like the call link feature, users must indicate if the scheduled call is a voice or video call.

Group calls may have a maximum of 32 participants, like the mobile app. The limit aims to provide a stable and high-quality call experience to prevent interruptions.

It is unclear if WhatsApp will first launch group calls with fewer participants, like 8 or 16 users, and then increase the limit to 32 over time.

According to WABetaInfo, further details about the WhatsApp calling features will be announced soon.

Recent stats showed that WhatsApp has over 3 billion monthly active users globally. This number indicates that around 36.59% of the global population of 8.2 billion people uses WhatsApp.

The messaging app, which is owned by Meta, gained 1 billion new users in the past 5 years.

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