WhatsApp for Mac now supports voice and video calls

WhatsApp logo
WhatsApp logo (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / iMore)

What you need to know

  • WhatsApp for macOS now supports video and audio calls.
  • Sadly, the feature doesn't support group calling yet.

WhatsApp has been updated on macOS to bring support for video and audio calls on desktop, making it one of the best messaging apps on Mac.

As reported by TechCrunch:

WhatsApp is rolling out support for voice and video calling to its desktop app, the Facebook-owned messaging service said Thursday, providing relief to countless people sitting in front of computers who have had to reach for their phone every time their WhatsApp rang.For now, WhatsApp said its nearly five-year-old desktop app for Mac and Windows will only support one-to-one calls for now, but that it will be expanding this feature to include group voice and video calls "in the future."

Calls will reportedly work "seamlessly" between portrait and landscape, and the desktop client will remain "always on top" so you don't lose your call screen behind any of your other windows.

The new feature isn't being extended to WhatsApp Web, the browser-based version, and as mentioned will not support group calling, only one-to-one calls.

Pushing the platform to compete with apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp added support for video calls of up to eight people early last year. From that report:

WhatsApp is now rolling out group video and voice chats for up to eight people across both iOS and Android.WhatsApp expanded group calling to eight people in its beta on April 21, after previously announcing support for up to four people.Now, group video and voice calling for you and seven friends has been released to the general public on both iOS and Android. According to the app's iOS release notes for version 2.20.50:Group video and voice calls now support up to 8 participants. All participants need to be on the latest version of WhatsApp.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9