WhatsApp now lets you mute that person eating and breathing into the microphone during group calls

Several minor but useful enhancements are coming to WhatsApp group calls

Over the last couple of years, WhatsApp has been working steadily to bridge the feature gap that exists between its platform and other messaging services. In the last few months alone, WhatsApp has expanded group chat support to 512 users, increased the file sharing limit to 2GB, added the option to migrate your chat history from Android to iPhone, and rolled out message reactions. This is on top of the plethora of features it is already testing in the beta channel. The Meta-owned service is continuing with its rapid pace of improvement and has announced several new features for group calls.

Starting today, you can mute individuals who eat and/or breathe right into the microphone on a group call, sparing everyone the trouble of listening to them. WhatsApp supports up to 32 people on a group voice call, so things can definitely get a bit chaotic. The option will be available to all participants on the call and won't be limited to the person who initiated it. Irrespective of who mutes the person, they won't be audible to anyone else in the group. A mute icon will show up beside the name of the muted person to indicate this.

Additionally, you can now directly message an individual on a group call. Previously, you had to open your chat list and then find your conversation with that specific contact for this.

Lastly, WhatsApp will show an indicator whenever a new person joins a group call. So, the next time you hold a meeting over a WhatsApp group call, you'll know exactly when a person has joined instead of going through the list of participants every once in a while.

The changes are rolling out today and should be available on your device if you run on the latest WhatsApp build. If not, they should show up within a few days or weeks.