Group video call on WhatsApp: desktop, web, phone

For most of us, WhatsApp remains the preferred messaging service for us to keep in touch with loved ones. The world's most popular instant messaging app has now also made it possible to make group video calls, and in this article, we'll explain the steps on how to do it.

How does WhatsApp group video call work?

Not everyone uses Zoom or Skype, but WhatsApp is still a common social media, especially among the older generation. So, when you need to organize a digital family gathering, WhatsApp can come in handy since it allows you to organize and join group video calls. If you have 32 or fewer participants, you can start a group video call directly from the group chat. If there are more than 32 participants, you still can organize the conference video call, although you will need to add some participants manually.

How to start a video call from a group chat?

• Open WhatsApp on your phone and enter the group chat that you want to make a call. Tap on the phone icon in the upper right corner of the conversation.
• In the list displayed, select the participants of the call, one by one.
• Finally, click on the camera icon to make the video call.

How to start a group video call from an individual chat?

• Open the conversation with the contact you want to video call. In the top right corner, tap the camera icon to start the video call and confirm by clicking Call.

• Once the video call has started, click on the Add Participant icon in the top right corner.

• Choose the contact you want to add to the call and confirm by clicking Add.

How to start a video call from the calls tab?

• Open WhatsApp and go to the Calls tab and press the phone icon.
• Select New Group Call and add the people you want to call from your contacts
• Click on the camera icon to launch the call.

How to use Picture-In-Picture in WhatsApp video calls

It used to be quite inconvenient to use other features and apps on your smartphone at the same time during a WhatsApp video call. To do this, users had to minimize the video call window completely. Since February 2023, the messenger has had a feature called Picture-in-Picture that allows you to reduce the size of the video call window and perform other operations on the phone without losing sight of the interlocutors.

On an iOS smartphone, to use this feature, swipe from the bottom of the screen during a video call and the app will collapse into a small window that floats on top of other apps. Now you can open other apps without losing the video call.

In Android, this feature is not yet universally implemented, but you can use an indirect path to activate the Picture-in-Picture mode. To check if your phone supports this feature, go to Settings app and type "Picture in Picture" in the search field at the top of the screen. The phone will tell you if you can turn on this feature for WhatsApp while working with other applications.