WhatsApp is extending voice and video calling in its web app to group chats, bringing a feature that has been missing from the browser version even as Meta slowly tests the basics of web calling. The rollout is still limited to some beta users, but the direction is clear: WhatsApp Web is becoming less like a companion tab and more like a full communication client.
The new option appears inside group chats with up to 32 people. Users who have the feature can start a voice call, launch a video call, or share their screen, and they do not have to pull in every member of the group at once. That selective invite behavior is a small detail, but it matters for messy family chats, work groups, and the kind of large threads where nobody actually wants 32 people speaking at once.
What WhatsApp Web group calls can do
- Voice calls in group chats
- Video calls in group chats
- Screen sharing during calls
- Participant selection instead of automatic group-wide joining
- Support for video call links
For WhatsApp, this is a sensible catch-up move rather than a flashy reinvention. Competitors such as Telegram, Signal, and Google Meet have long made browser-based calling feel normal, while WhatsApp has often treated the web version as a secondary surface. Bringing group calling into WhatsApp Web closes a gap that has been increasingly hard to justify.
How WhatsApp Web group calls appear in the browser
The process is straightforward: open a group chat, look for the call button in the top bar if it has been enabled for your account, and choose between voice or video. WhatsApp says the calls are protected with end-to-end encryption, just like in the app, and the web version also supports video call links.
Beta access is available through the settings in WhatsApp Web, but that still does not guarantee access to every test feature. WhatsApp tends to roll out changes gradually, which is polite corporate language for ”don’t expect it on your machine just because somebody else has it.”
What users should expect next
The most likely next step is broader beta expansion, followed by a slow public rollout if the feature behaves itself. WhatsApp has been pushing more of its core communication tools toward the web, and group calling is the kind of upgrade that will be used constantly once it lands, not just demoed once and forgotten.