WhatsApp announced guest calling on 14 October: anyone with the app can generate a link and send it to anyone else, even people who don’t have WhatsApp. The guest joins from a computer browser, without installing anything or registering an account. According to Meta’s announcement, the feature is available straight away.
How it works in practice
You start from the Calls tab of the app: tap the ”+” to create the link, which you can paste wherever you like, in an email as easily as in another messenger. Only people with a WhatsApp account can generate it.
Whoever receives the invitation opens it in the browser, types their name and waits in a waiting room. To get in, they need the go-ahead of the person organising the call, who can also remove the guest at any time.
Both audio and video calls are supported, one-to-one or in a group, with a maximum of 32 people once admitted. During the call the guest can share their screen, raise a hand and send a reaction (thumbs up or heart). Meta says the calls are free, end-to-end encrypted and have no time limit.
The limits for people joining as guests
The restrictions are there to protect people who use WhatsApp with their personal number. The guest:
- cannot find out the numbers of the other contacts on the call;
- cannot send messages;
- cannot invite other people.
Anyone who has already used call links knows the mechanism isn’t entirely new, but until now the other end still had to have the app. Now a browser is enough, and that changes who can be invited: customers, distant relatives, outside colleagues.
Calendar: coming later
By the end of the year WhatsApp promises integration with Google Calendar and Outlook. A plugin will let you put the call link inside an event invitation, and recipients will be able to join with or without WhatsApp. No precise dates have been given.
Availability in Italy
The announcement says “from today” but doesn’t list countries or platforms, apart from the browser. So for now we don’t know whether the rollout is already complete here: the easiest way to find out is to update the app, open the Calls tab and look for the ”+”. The new feature adds to calls from WhatsApp Web, which arrived in the summer. On audio quality, we have already covered the noise-cancelling filter for calls.
What we think
It fixes a long-standing limitation: until now, to call with WhatsApp, both people had to have it. Links and a waiting room make the service presentable even for a job interview, a consultation or a call with your accountant, that is, with people outside your address book.
The comparison with Zoom and Google Meet, which many have made, should be kept in proportion, though. The cap of 32 people and the fact that guests can’t even write in the chat show that the aim is the occasional call, not the company meeting with roles, minutes and recordings. Dedicated tools remain the answer for that.
Two things to watch in the coming weeks. The first is how the browser version holds up with many participants and mediocre connections. The second is the organiser’s protection: anyone sharing a public link must remember that the waiting room is the filter, so it’s best not to admit names you don’t recognise. For people who work from home or help relatives who are less comfortable with technology, being able to send a single address and nothing else is probably the most useful part.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
