WhatsApp has announced that it is rolling out its voice chat feature to all groups regardless of size. Not to be confused with group calls, voice chats are what the company calls “audio hangouts” and are more akin to Discord voice channels that allow users to easily drop in at their leisure.
To initiate a voice chat, the user must first go to the bottom of the chat, then swipe up and hold for a few seconds. Once a voice chat has been started, group members can freely join and leave at their own pace. While in voice chat, the user can wave to other group members, which sends a wave emoji to the group along with a message that the user wants to talk.
Voice chats are notably less disruptive than group calls as the app does not notify or ring any participants when someone starts one. The voice chat also remains pinned to the bottom of the chat, where it displays users who are currently in the chat. As the interface does not take up the entire screen, the user is free to continue engaging with text messages in the group.
This audio hangout feature has existed since 2023, but was limited to larger groups consisting of 33 to 256 members. Of course, it’s highly likely that the average WhatsApp group doesn’t have that many participants, which meant that a good portion of the userbase did not have access to this feature when it was first introduced.
(Source: WhatsApp blog)
