Google is once again hiking the number of people you can video chat with on Duo — three months after updating the limit to 12 from 8 earlier this year in March. On Google Chrome for desktops, users can now have as many as 32 people in a single group Duo call.
The new 32-person calls will remain restricted to Google’s own browser for now since they leverage the latest issue of a technology called WebRTC for offering end-to-end encryption — which is only available on the latest versions of Chrome. Google hasn’t commented on whether it plans to eventually roll it out for other platforms yet. We’ve reached out to the company for the same and we’ll update the story when we hear back.
To make group video calls, all users need to do is head over to Duo’s web app, sign in with their Google accounts, and tap the “Create group link” button. You can share that link directly with participants or invite them manually.
In a tweet, Sanaz Ahari, a senior director of Product & Design at Google, said the new group call limit will arrive for Duo’s Android and iOS apps “over the next couple of weeks”. The new update will bring Google Duo on par with FaceTime’s 32-person limit as well.
As demand for video calling platforms spikes across the world, Google has actively rolled out updates for its consumer-facing Duo platform. Two months ago, Google claimed Duo is hosting 10 million new sign-ups per week and that there’s been an 8x surge in video call usage in “regions particularly impacted by social distancing.”
In late April, the company made calls more reliable with a new video codec technology and added a quick button to capture a snapshot of the video call. It also eliminated the mandatory phone number requirement and users can now have the option to sign up with a Google account. Last month, it rolled out a “family mode” that allows you to apply goofy augmented reality effects and doodle live in one-on-one group chats. In addition, Google is reportedly developing the ability to share your screen on video calls for both Duo’s mobile and web clients.