WhatsApp: Chat now offers voice and video calls for groups

WhatsApp users can now use the chat application for small videoconferences. As announced Monday, WhatsApp, which is part of Facebook, will allow up to four simultaneous voice and video calls. The feature, which was announced in May during the Facebook F8 conference, is currently published in WhatsApp versions for Android and iOS.

According to the new WhatsApp feature, you can initiate a normal voice or video call begins. Then, in the upper right corner, press the "Add Participant" button, after which the conversation can be extended to two other participants, a maximum of four participants.

Group calls are always encrypted end-to-end, writes WhatsApp, which means: Calls are always secure so only the maximum of four participants know their content, not even WhatsApp itself.

Attention, video calls doubt the volume of data

via the Internet, so in everyday life mainly via WLAN or the mobile network. Those using the application outside Wi-Fi networks consume some of its data volume and not as in the normal minutes of phone calls from its mobile phone contract. WhatsApp video calls consume much more data than WhatsApp voice calls without image transfer.

As long as they work on WLAN and there is no roaming charges additional, WhatsApp calls make no difference whether users are abroad or not. In some countries, however, the WhatsApp call feature is not available: anyone who stays there can neither call nor be called by the application.