Snapchat has finally launched group conversations, letting the app take on competitors like WhatsApp.

The company will finally let people talk to a group of friends – up to 16 of them – rather than starting individual conversations with a range of different people.

The move is perhaps one of its biggest launches in recent years. The company has been gradually looking to become more of a centre for people to have conversations, something that was severely limited by its inability to have group conversations like competitors including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

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"The holidays are a great time to hang out with friends and spend time with family – it’s always better together!" the company, which has been rebranded as "Snap, Inc", wrote in a blog post. "We couldn’t think of a better time to announce Groups, a new way to communicate with up to 16 friends on Snapchat."

Groups can be made either when sending a new snap or when opening a new chat. They are started the same as a one-on-one conversation, but include a range of other people.

There's stll an easy way of heading to individual chats – which is done simply by clicking someone's name – which Snapchat said had been introduced as a way of keep group chats from getting derailed. "We call this Quick Chat, and it’s the fastest way to keep the conversation going with one friend without spamming the entire Group," the blog post read.

Chats that are sent to a group are deleted after 24 hours, and snaps that are sent to a group can only be opened and replayed once by each person in the group.