Video Calls in WhatsApp and Advanced Group Management
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WhatsApp introduced video calls two years back but back then, it had severe problems such as the loss of connecting during calls, audio/video issues among others.

Talking about now, these issues have been fixed and WhatsApp video calls have started becoming stable and more fun, with the reduction in lag.

How you can make video calls?

To make video calls in WhatsApp, you need to open the chat of the contact whom you want to call. Tap on the camera icon in the top right of the chat to initiate a video call.

Note – If the person is offline, the video call will be initiated but you will see a “no answer” dialogue.

You can tap on the following icons in the video call for various functions –

  1. Chat icon – Tap it to go to the chat of the contact and type and send a message or a voice note.
  2. Mic icon – To mute your mic so that your contact can not hear anything that you are saying.
  3. Camera icon – Tap to switch between the front and the rear camera.

Video calls are a great way of connecting with your loved ones because you can’t see them smiling on a voice call, can you?

Group video calling

WhatsApp beta for Android has a group video calling plan that allows a total of 4 people to talk simultaneously in a video call with each other. While the feature is not yet available for the official WhatsApp on the Android platform, it’s expected that it will be soon.

Windows Phone users will also be getting the group video calling feature soon.

In a time when various apps are bringing on the heat by offering group video calls, it was not going to be late till WhatsApp joined the show.

 

 

Advanced Group Management

Groups are a part of WhatsApp that you just can’t avoid. Be it family groups, groups made by your high school and college friends or informal groups of your colleagues, groups never leave you.

WhatsApp has been planning on introducing certain features to the app which will allow for more advanced group management.

The features are –

  • Group creator rights – Soon, WhatsApp might be adding a feature which will prevent the group administrators from removing the group creator from the group.

 

This will allow the creator to remain in his place and prevent the takeover of a WhatsApp group by another administrator.

 

  • Restricted groups – The administrators of a group will be able to enable this feature in group options. Once this is enabled, the general members of the group won’t be able to send any messages, audio, images, videos or any other content in the group but will only have to read the administrators’ messages in silence.

 

However, the members will be able to message the admin by tapping on the “message admin” button. Their message will reach the group once/if it is approved by the administrator.

 

While this is still in works and might not make it to the official version of WhatsApp, the only use for this feature that we can think of, will be in official settings, such as in the group of a class or an office where the members only need to receive instructions from a professor or an executive/boss.

 

  • Demoting other admins – The administrators of a group will be able to demote the other admins of the group and convert them into general members by using this feature. This feature is useful in case one of the administrators is inactive. Although, this can bee misused by a group administrator to become the sole administrator of a group, providing him a monopoly over the group.

While at the surface, groups do not seem that important and might seem too casual, we are hopeful that these extra features will add another layer of security to the group, although, there are always chances of scrutiny.

With WhatsApp testing more and more features on the beta version every month, we are expecting to see a much, much robust and revamped version of the app by the end of 2019. Whether the app will retain its simple UI or not, that is the question.