WhatsApp beta increases maximum number of group calling participants from four to eight

WhatsApp will be able to have more than four participants in a video or voice group conversation. Where that used to be a maximum of four, it is now eight. That feature has now been introduced in the beta version of the app.

WABetaInfo reports the change. According to the site, iOS beta 2.20.50.25 and Android beta 2.20.133 of the WhatsApp app allow video or voice conversations with more than four participants in total. However, the other members of the group must also have at least this version of the application installed before the increased limit actually works for everyone. There is no indication of when the feature will come in the release versions.

WhatsApp seems to be making rapid changes to its popular chat app in the context of the corona crisis. In recent weeks, the mass forwarding of messages has been restricted and these forwarded messages can easily be checked online. These two measures have been implemented to combat misinformation and disinformation. Apart from the coronavirus, WhatsApp has had a dark mode since March, which also conforms to the same operating system level setting.