WhatsApp has doubled the number of simultaneous video call participants to eight, as it seeks to connect more people during stay-at-home measures imposed by the pandemic.
Encryption: WhatsApp features end-to-end encryption, meaning all of your video (and text) chats are safe from prying eyes, even those of Facebook-owned WhatsApp itself. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and works well on slower networks, making it a viable alternative to other encrypted solutions like the Apple-only FaceTime.
Competition: The aforementioned FaceTime only allows up to 32 people to chat at once, while Zoom (which isn’t end-to-end encrypted) claims up to 1,000 simultaneous participants. Skype has a limit of 50 people, Google Hangouts allows up to 10 (or 25 if you’re a paying business user), and Facebook Rooms allows 50 people to chat at once. Like Zoom, however, none of these solutions are end-to-end encrypted.
In short: In our stay-at-home, virtual presence reality, a secure video chat app that works across all devices and networks is an important option. Now that WhatsApp allows more than four users at a time, it could become your new favorite way to stay in touch.
