WhatsApp Rolling Out New 'Voice Chats' Feature On Android Devices: All You Need To Know

The Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp is releasing a new feature called voice chats to communicate in your groups. As per the screenshot shared by WABetaInfo, a new voice waveform icon may be visible within a group chat if the feature is enabled for the account and compatible with the group. Tapping on this icon will automatically start the voice chat, and a dedicated interface will appear.

“Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.16.19 update from the Google Play Store, WhatsApp is rolling out audio chats, now called voice chats, to some beta testers, and we discovered important details about how this feature works,” WABetaInfo reported.

According to the report, anyone in the group chat can join the voice chat at any time and start speaking. If the voice chat remains empty, it will automatically end after 60 minutes if no one joins. However, anyone can still start another voice chat at any time.

Voice chats are restricted to specific groups. They are usually accessible in groups with more than 32 participants, but only up to 32 participants can join a voice chat. However, the configuration might vary depending on the user.

Voice chats offer a significant advantage by enabling calls to be initiated without ringing each participant’s phone in the group. However, every group member will receive a silent push notification when a new voice chat is created, and the chat list will display a small thumbnail representing the voice chat within the group icon.

It’s important to note that voice chats are also protected by end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only the participants of a voice call can listen to its contents.

The ability to start voice chats is available to some users that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android updates from the Google Play Store, and it is rolling out to even more people over the coming days. However, it seems to be part of a wider release, which means some users on the stable version of the app might also have the opportunity to experiment with this feature.