MANILA - Users of chat app Viber in the Philippines can now use its new Group Video Calls and have a video conference with up to 20 people with unlimited duration, the company said Thursday.
Viber said that the added support for video meets the growing demand for large video calls to replicate face-to-face conversations and conferences.
“We’re excited to enable users to participate in video calls with up to 20 people, and we’re going to expand this further very soon,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.
Social distancing has compelled people to rethink the way they gather in groups, making alternative online meetups not only convenient but necessary, Viber said in a statement.
The chat app has been updated with a new “video” button at the top of the screen where participants can be added to an ongoing video call.
Viber’s Group Video Calls also support features like screen sharing and video broadcasting for both mobile and desktop devices.
"Group Video Calls give the speaker the floor, displaying their video for all participants," Viber said.
Users can also mute themselves or disable their video during the call, as well as see if other participants are on mute or if their video is turned off. The new feature also lets users privately pin anyone’s video to their personal screen during the call.
Video conferencing apps have seen a tremendous boom in the number of users worldwide after the coronavirus pandemic made social distancing the norm.
news.abs-cbn.com
