Due to lockdown, people are stuck at home and many are working from home. This has led to an increased usage of video conferencing apps. While for work, people preferred apps like Zoom and Skype, for personal chats, people turned to apps like Duo and Houseparty. Now, Whatsapp has finally decided to cash in this opportunity and has become a more viable option if your group consists of 8 or fewer members.
According to the website, WABeta, the latest beta version of the app, which can be downloaded from TestFlight (2.20.50.25 iOS beta) as well as the Google Play Store (2.20.133 beta), allows you to add more than four up to eight participants in a video call. To enjoy this new feature, you have to ensure that all the participants are using the latest beta version of the app. Any user who isn’t using the latest version won’t be able to participate. WhatsApp has started to roll out this update for iPhone and Android users, so it will take some time until it is available to all the beta users. So, if you haven’t received the update, worry not! Good things take time.
With this new move, Whatsapp has jumped into the competition to get back its share, which was captured by other apps. This is a welcome change, and people will surely love Whatsapp for this, although Whatsapp won’t be competing with video conferencing apps for professionals ( like Zoom, Skype etc.) because according to Facebook, WhatsApp is for you and your close ones. So, the increased limit of 8 would probably be enough to let you enjoy birthdays and other personal occasions in these times of social distancing.
