You can now speak to multiple people at the same time using Facebook Messenger. Its new group voice call feature will be available on iOS and Android in the next 24 hours for those who download the app’s latest version.
To try it out just open your updated Facebook Messenger, find a friends in either your messaging or group tabs, and press the newly added phone icon in the upper right hand corner of the group chat screen. You will then be asked to choose which members within that group you want to start calling.
David Marcus/Facebook
This is all similar to one-on-one calls, and you will even be able to view the status of your phone call for each individual group member: ringing, no answer, or joined.
The feature is voice-only, so video chats will have to wait for a future update. For now, group voice calls are limited to 50 people, which pales in comparison to the 200 offered by Line. This might be limiting for companies that use the Facebook for Work platform, but further updates could address any shortcomings.
Implementing group voice chats is another move by Facebook to give its 900 million Messenger users a one-stop shop for everything social, and gets them one step closer to competing directly against the likes of Skype and Google Hangouts.
H/T VentureBeat
