Facebook has today announced the global roll out of group calling in Facebook Messenger. From any group conversations, simply tap the Phone icon, select which of the group chat members you want included and they’ll all receive a Messenger call simultaneously.
If you miss the initial call but it’s still in progress, you can tap the Phone icon in the group chat to join the call. At any time you can see who’s on the call and send another ping to anyone who hasn’t joined.
Group calls are rolling out to users over the next 24 hours on both Android and iOS apps for free. However, if you’re using the latest version of Messenger, you should see the phone icon appear in group conversations relatively soon.
Currently the feature is limited to conversation and is not available in video chat, which will remain one-on-one conversations for the moment.
Facebook state that the feature will eventually come to video calling, which Messenger will need in order to compete with Google Hangouts or Skype for video calls.
At launch, you’re limited to having up to 50 people on a group call, but it’s likely that this will be fine-tuned by the company over time.
