WhatsApp could soon rival Skype, Zoom with this feature update

Update: April 29, 2020: After arriving to a few devices last week, WhatsApp has now officially confirmed that the eight-participant video call increase is now official. The new video call feature is rolling out now. Just make sure everyone in your party is running the latest version of WhatsApp on Android or iOS.

Original article, April 17 2020 (7:26AM ET): In a recent response to the COVID-19 crisis, WhatsApp introduced more forward limits on the app to limit the spread of misinformation. Now, WhatsApp seems to be preparing yet another feature that would make it more useful during the ongoing pandemic.

Possibly prompted by the sudden rise in video calling, WhatsApp is reportedly looking to increase the group audio and video calling limit. The WhatsApp Beta watchers at WABetaInfo claim to have discovered a revealing string of code in the messaging app’s Android beta version 2.2.128.

Currently, WhatsApp restricts group video and audio calls to a maximum of four participants. This limit is tiny in comparison to video chatting platforms like Skype and Zoom, which allow a much larger number of people to participate in group calls.

There is no word on WhatsApp’s new group calling limit, but if Messenger is anything to go by, then we could see a refreshed limit of as many as 50 participants. After all, both platforms are owned by Facebook.

How many people do you think WhatsApp should allow on group calls? Take our poll below and let us know your preference.