32-person video call to Communities: WhatsApp’s new features

CHENNAI: Meta-owned messaging platfrom WhatsApp has rolled out the Communities feature for users globally and in addition to that, has also launched three new exciting features. They include in-chat polls, 32-person video calling, and groups with up to 1,024 users.

Before the rollout, the 32-person calling feature was limited to video calls only. "Today we're launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We're also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All secured by end-to-end encryption so your messages stay private," founder and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said on Facebook.

The company announced the feature in April and has started rolling them now, which will be gradually available to all users in the next few weeks. "The global rollout of the Communities feature will allow users to have multiple groups together under one roof and let them organise group conversations on the platform with the "level of privacy and security not found anywhere else", it added.

The Meta-owned platform will allow file transfer of up to 2GB files, which was limited to up to 16 MB earlier.

''WhatsApp is also releasing three more features: the ability to create in-chat polls, 32-person video calling, and groups with up to 1,024 users. Just like emoji reactions, larger file sharing, and admin delete, these features can be used in any group but will be particularly helpful for Communities,'' the company said.

Besides, Whatsapp users will be able to broadcast messages to up to 5,000 users, who are part of their community and participate in polls, the company added.

(With inputs from PTI)