WhatsApp starts testing Messenger Rooms shortcut on Android and iOS

Prior to the global rollout of its Messenger Rooms video conferencing tool, Facebook announced plans to integrate it with other in-house...

Prior to the global rollout of its Messenger Rooms video conferencing tool, Facebook announced plans to integrate it with other in-house apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp. Well, it appears the testing has already begun, as the Messenger Rooms shortcut has started appearing for WhatsApp users on the beta channel.

First spotted by WABetaInfo, the latest beta builds of WhatsApp for Android (v2.20.163) and iOS (2.20.52.6) introduce the Messenger Rooms shortcut in the chat window that appears when you tap the attachment button on the text bar. The Messenger Rooms shortcut replaces the camera icon and is labeled as simply Room. The Room button also appears as a separate icon in the calls section on WhatsApp.

Tapping on the Messenger Rooms shortcut asks users if they want to open the Messenger application and start a group video call with up to 50 people. However, this feature is currently available only to a small bunch of users in the US and a few other countries. You can try the beta build (on Android) from APKMirror here and see if you’re lucky enough.

Here’s how it looks on Android: