Earlier this year Instagram rolled out the ability for users to make video calls within Direct (Instagram’s direct messaging feature). Making the video call itself is pretty easy and straightforward, but now it looks like Instagram has decided to update the feature to make it easier to add new users to the video chat.
Basically by swiping up during a video call, you will be able to bring up your list of friends, and tapping on the name will send a notice to that friend asking them to join your video call. At the moment Instagram’s video call feature supports up to six users at once, so a group video call isn’t new, but hopefully this gesture means that adding more people to the chat will become easier.
Now you can add people to an ongoing video chat in Direct. Just swipe up while you're chatting to add more friends and keep the conversation going. pic.twitter.com/is1Zyqjrr3
— Instagram (@instagram) December 17, 2018
There is no word on whether Instagram plans on expanding its video chat to include even more users at once, but we reckon six is plenty. What’s interesting is how Instagram seems to be working on enhancing its Direct chat feature. Earlier this month the company rolled out a new walkie-talkie feature that basically let users send voice messages to each other. For a platform that seems to focus mostly on photos, it’s actually interesting to see them put so much effort with its chat features, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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