Skype is adding free video calling to its mobile apps

Go forth and achieve your squad goals

13th January 2016 Emma Boyle News, 📱 Tech

Trying to make plans in your WhatsApp or Facebook group chat can feel like a seriously uphill battle sometimes. Either you’ve got everyone typing their own ideas over each other, no one typing anything because they have no ideas, or one horrendous meme merchant posting irrelevant distractions and interrupting the planning process. It’d be nice to be able to pick up the phone and make plans together on a just as free face to face group chat with the etiquette pressures of polite conversation and your impatient face to keep everyone under control.

Well, fortunately, that’ll soon be a possibility since to celebrate its 10th birthday Skype is adding free group video calls to its iOS, Android, and Windows 10 mobile apps. Skype haven’t made it clear just how many people will be able to video call at the one time with the mobile update; the desktop version allows you to chat face to face with up to 10 people so hopefully the mobile version will be able to do the same. Although I’m not entirely sure how enjoyable a 10 person face to face Skype conversation would be. It seems like a beast born more out of necessity than desire.

It’s not been made clear when exactly the feature will become available, though Skype has said that it’ll be rolling out “over the coming weeks.” If you really can’t wait for that, though, they have made it possible to pre-register for early access on their website.

Though Skype isn’t the first service to offer free group calling on mobile (Google Hangouts supports up to 10 people in one video call), it does seem like a sensible move for them, beating other popular chat services like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Face Time to the punch.

Main Image via Skype