WhatsApp video call features aim to better compete with FaceTime

Three new WhatsApp video call features are aiming to make the app more competitive with FaceTime – including the company’s own take on SharePlay.

The company also emphasized the recent improvements it made to both audio and video quality …

WhatsApp has announced three new features:

• Screen sharing with audio: Ideal for watching videos together, now when you share your screen, you can share your audio too
• More participants: Now you can have up to 32 people on a video call across all your devices
• Speaker spotlight: Easily see who’s talking with the speaker automatically highlighted and appearing first on screen

Screen sharing with audio, and the new 32-person limit, bring the feature more in line with FaceTime. Speaker spotlight is a feature first seen in Zoom.

WhatsApp says that its newly-introduced MLow codec also improved call reliability and quality.

We recently launched MLow codec which improves call reliability. Calls made on mobile devices benefit from improved noise and echo cancellation, making it easier to have calls in noisy environments, and video calls have higher resolution for those with faster connections. Audio is crisper overall, even if you have poor network connectivity or are using an older device.

Image: WhatsApp