WhatsApp introduces the new Voice Chats feature. This new feature allows group members to talk to each other, but not like you currently do with a group chat.
Megan van der Wagt
WhatsApp regularly releases new features. For example, WhatsApp recently introduced features such as WhatsApp Channels and multiple accounts on one smartphone. And this week we reported how you can protect your IP address against hackers with WhatsApp. The newly introduced feature Voice chats will be rolled out in the near future. It may therefore be that not everyone will be able to see and use the new voice chat function yet, but that will be the case soon. What that function entails, how to use it and what benefits it offers can be found below.
How does it work?
A voice chat is only possible in WhatsApp group apps in which a minimum of 33 members and a maximum of 128 people can participate. The voice chats allow you to talk to people in a WhatsApp group chat and as a group member you can choose to participate or not. According to WhatsApp, the voice chats would be a lot less disruptive, since participants of a group app only receive a push notification that a voice chat has started, instead of everyone being called. During such a voice chat it is possible to also send text messages to the group.
Start a voice chat:
1. Open the group chat with which you want to start a voice chat yourself or for which you have received a push notification.
2. Tap this symbol at the top right of the screen: 
3. Tap Start voice chat.
- This feature is only available on your primary device.
- Group members who are not in the voice chat can see the profiles of those in the voice chat through the chat header and tab To call to action.
- Voice chats end automatically once everyone has left the chat. They also end if no one joins the first or last person in the chat for 60 minutes.
- Tap on
to leave a voice chat.