Finally! The days of whining about the limited number of participants you could add to WhatsApp’s group video and audio calls are OVER! Praise digital advancement, because the limit has been increased from 4 to 8 participants.

For people stuck far away from their families and in times that strictly demand social distancing, video calling applications contribute a lot in keeping us all sane by helping us feel close to our loved ones.

People have often found the number of participants in the group video/audio calls a major limitation of the otherwise significantly efficient WhatsApp.

Hence when WhatsApp, taking into account the terrific rise in the usage of Video Calling applications, at long last has decided to increase the number of contacts you can add to a group video/audio call, we can’t help but be happy.

The new feature would be exclusively available for the users of Android and iOS beta. The installation of the 2.20.50.25 update for the iOS beta users and the 2.20.133 beta update for the Android users is a prerequisite for the accessibility of the feature.

From One Billion daily active WhatsApp users and 400 Million out of them being Indians this new feature was being expected for quite a long time, researchers mention.



For the group video call with the raised number of participants to function at all, all the participants must have the same versions of the application, meaning 2.20.133 beta for Android users and 2.20.50.25 beta update for iOS users. A new header also notifies users about the end-to-end encryption of the calls.

Per sources, in the last month alone the number of people who “video-call” and the time they spend doing it has increased sufficiently on a global level. The pandemic has brought people closer “online” while being physically distant.

Other famous video calling applications including Facebook’s Messenger and Apple’s FaceTime offer a provision to add 50 and 32 people at once, respectively.

This feature will roll out gradually so all you have to do is update your WhatsApp application, sit tight, and wait for your device to embrace it with open arms!