Video calls are more important than ever, now that most countries have their version of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in place. WhatsApp may soon be rolling out support for up to eight people in a single video call to accommodate this.
WABetainfo reports that the Facebook subsidiary is testing having up to eight participants in a group or video call. Initiating it involves making the call from an existing group. If the group has more than four members, you’ll be presented with the option of choosing who to call. Alternatively, there will be another option labelled “new group call” in the calls tab. You can select it, and then the contacts you want to call.
The feature is rolling out today for the beta version of WhatsApp. But to make this work, everyone you call with have to have the latest version of the beta app installed. This applies to both the Android and iOS versions of the app. You’ll also need to have the people you want to call already registered in your contacts list.
We've made it easier than ever to start a group call from WhatsApp for groups of 4 or less. From your group chat tap the video or voice call icon to directly start a call with everyone in the chat! 🙌
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) April 7, 2020
Earlier in the month, WhatsApp added the option to make video calls for up to four people. This update to the feature doubles the number of participants in video calls.
All that said, there’s no indication when the feature will roll out the the general release versions of the app. On the bright side, the fact that it is appearing in the beta version means the general rollout is only a matter of time.
(Source: WABetainfo)
