The new WhatsApp for Mac adds video and audio group calling

In addition to up-to-eight-person video calls and up-to-32-person audio calls, the new app has a redesigned UI that will look familiar to any macOS iMessage user.

WhatsApp has released a redesigned, native WhatsApp app for macOS that brings group calls to Apple’s desktop operating system. The app supports up to eight people in a group video session and as many as 32 in an audio call, both of which will have the same end-to-end encryption featured in its app on other platforms. The app was previously in open beta.

In addition to video calling, users can drag and drop files into chats, and the company says the app also shows more chat history. The design, Meta says, is intended to be “familiar to Mac users,” with a UI that better suits the larger screen of a desktop machine. Indeed, the app borrows a lot more from the macOS built-in Messages than the previous app, as you can see in this screenshot from my own computer:

The new macOS WhatsApp app (left) vs. iMessage (top right) vs. the old macOS WhatsApp app (bottom right).

 Screenshot: Wes Davis 

For now, you’ll need to download the app directly from WhatsApp, but Meta writes that it will come to the macOS App Store soon