Now You Can Call Up To 6 Friends At Once Using Instagram’s Video Chat Feature

Instagram is back at it, adding another helpful new feature for users like myself to take advantage of. Remember over the summer when the social media company rolled out Group Video Chat where you could video call up to four friends at once? Well, now Instagram is improving the already-released functionality by adding an additional two users to the call. That's right. Instagram's Group Video Chat feature lets you call up to six friends at the same time for even more fun.

The latest update from Instagram was first spotted by 9to5mac. The tech news site is reporting on a post featured in Instagram's Help section. In the post, it says that Instagram users can, "video chat with up to 6 people using Direct Messaging." Previously, Instagram users could only have four people per Group Video Chat.

To access the six-person Group Video Chat on Instagram, open the Instagram app on your iOS or Android device. Tap the arrow in the upper righthand corner. This will open up your Direct Messages. To activate the Group Video Chat feature, tap the plus sign in the upper righthand corner and select up to six users you'd like to Video Chat with. Once you've selected their usernames, click next in the upper righthand corner. You can name the group if you want, or just leave it blank.

Now you're ready to call all your friends. Click the video camera icon in the upper righthand corner and your phone will begin to ring your Insta friends. Each person will get a notification that you're video calling them.

If you aren't able to Group Video Chat with up to six people, your Instagram app could be out of date. Head over to the app store on your mobile device and check to make sure you are running the latest version of Instagram. If not, update your device and try again. That should fix any problems you're having.

The addition of two users is a welcomed change. I'm all about including as many friends as possible when I'm making plans. I see Instagram's Group Video Chat functionality as a way to streamline those plans, and also a way to catch up with my best friends who live all over the country. A few years back, my college roommate moved to Salt Lake City, and my other BFFs moved to a couple of different Florida coastal towns. Life gets busy and I'm that person that's horrible about responding to texts. For me, one of the best ways is to connect and catch up is doing so directly in Instagram. Another close friend is prepping for a big move to Seattle, so I'll no doubt be adding her to the mix when it comes time to catch up.

With less than three months left in 2018, I think it's safe to declare this the year of Instagram. The social media app has consistently rolled out a bevy of new features this year, and the addition of two extra friends is just the icing on the cake. I can't wait to see what Instagram has in store for 2019 (and who knows what the company might surprise us with before 2018 comes to an end).