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Facebook brings group video chats to Messenger

Facebook has responded to the fact that video chatting has been once of the most requested features for their Messenger service and the roll out begins across the desktop version, Android and iOS Messenger apps. Another feature that Facebook Messenger has is the is the live masks which will augment the live video chat with whatever cool animation you’d like to put on screen.

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This means you can do group video chat with six people at a time, although up to 50 people can join in and can listen. Technically, a single group chat has room for up to 50 participants, but if you have that much, only the dominant speaker will be visible to everyone.

A new video chat icon will now appear in conversations within the app, and any group member can start a video chat, with others joining when they wish. Instead of simply logging into an ever-present video chat room that notifies friends like on Houseparty, you deliberately select friends or a group text thread to a video call. With just one tap, anyone from the group can join.

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You can directly ring to a few people or whole group at a time. More than that, these screens can also feature selfie masks, much like what Snapchat offers. Facebook also recently rolled out the new camera on Messenger and more Snapchat-like filters and 3D special effects. Watch the demonstration below. Anyone who has tried a 1:1 video call knows that unless the connection on both ends is strong, the video chat won’t run smoothly. The latter feature is now available only on iOS platform, but the company claims that it will soon roll out this feature in Android. Now, via a press release, it looks like the social giant is once again updating their messaging app with another new function: group video chats. The option of video talk takes after an April overhaul that initially added assemble calling to Messenger. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that live streaming feature is a costly affair and most of the startups end exhausting the resources in order to build and scale a stable live streaming platform.

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