You can now make group video calls on Instagram

Instagram announced last month that they would launch video chat within the app. And now it’s here: you can now make video calls with your Instagram contacts. Other than calling one friend, you can also make group calls and add up to four friends to the conversation.

The feature started to roll out yesterday all over the world for both Android and iOS users. You can start a video chat with any of the friends you have in the Direct inbox. Open a message, tap the new camera icon in the right corner, and your friend’s phone will ring to notify them. If you start a video chat in a group thread, the camera icon will turn blue. So if a friend from the group wants to join the chat, all they need to do is tap the camera icon. The video will expand as more people join, and the maximum number of participants is five, including you.

If you’re not enough of scrolling through Instagram, you can minimize the video chat and do something else while your friends are talking and you’re listening with half an ear. Just like most of us does on Skype.

As I mentioned many times before, I think Instagram is overdoing it with the new features and it’s becoming overly complex. I don’t like the “all-in-one” apps, but it’s just me. Objectively speaking, I guess video chats can come in handy. If you’re a photographer looking for models on Instagram, video chats could make the communication easier. But I’d still rather use Skype, Viber or good ol’ cell phone.

[Instagram via Engadget]