WhatsApp Adds Screen Sharing and Speaker Spotlight to Video Calls

• WhatsApp has introduced screen sharing with audio, a new speaker spotlight feature, and expanded video call participant limits to 32 across all devices.
• The updates also include the implementation of the Meta Low Bitrate (MLow) codec to improve call reliability under limited network conditions.

WhatsApp changed the video calling experience for all devices on Thursday, introducing the screen sharing feature with audio and a new spotlight for speakers feature. The company also increased the number of participants for participants in video calls for up to 32 participants.

Last August, WhatsApp introduced screen-sharing support for video calls. WhatsApp is now enhancing the experience by making it possible to stream audio along with your screen. It allows you to listen to videos while you are during an WhatsApp phone.

Another important change WhatsApp is making for its video calls includes the expansion of its limit that allows users to join as many as 32 participants for a video call across different devices. Before the change, WhatsApp had a 32-participant limitation on mobile devices however, users on Windows as well as macOS were able to add eight and 16 participants in turn.

WhatsApp’s video calling capabilities that are expanded across platforms is compatible with Apple’s FaceTime and allows iPhone as well as iPad users to connect 32 or more participants in video calls. But, Google Meet and Zoom permit users to connect more than 100 users in the basic plan.

The most recent set of updates on WhatsApp adds the spotlight of the speaker to highlight automatically the user in the video call, and makes their name appear first on the display.

Furthermore, WhatsApp parent Meta introduced Meta Low Bitrate (MLow) as a Meta Low Bitrate (MLow) codec for WhatsApp to increase the reliability of calls even when the user is experiencing limited network connectivity or an older model of device. It is an important enhancement to the open-source codec Opus that Meta previously used across its products for real-time communications. This codec has been rated as having double the quality of audio as Opus while maintaining the computational complexity of 10% less as compared to the codec open source.

MLow is currently available for Instagram as well as Messenger calls, and it is currently being rolled out to WhatsApp to improve the call interaction across Meta platforms.

In addition to MLow, WhatsApp said in an article on its blog that it will be rolling out latest updates related to calling for any users who are eligible over the next couple of weeks.