Skype has increased the number of users that can be on the same audio or video group call to 50, up from the previous maximum of 25.

skype group call max 50
The bump up to 50 means bigger team chats and larger conference calls with speakers can take place, while full classes of students can participate in group calls.

The change also means Microsoft's Skype now beats Apple's FaceTime for the number of users that take part in a group call. ‌FaceTime‌ supports a maximum of 32 people.

In addition, Microsoft has made some changes to how larger Skype group calls start. Users now receive a notification to replace the default ringing sound, which is meant to allow every member of a group to receive a quick ping to join the call in a more unobtrusive way.

The audio and video buttons remain available to use in larger groups, so users can still mute their microphones or turn on/off their webcam.

Large group calling is available on the latest version of Skype for desktop and mobile.

Tag: Skype

Top Rated Comments

W2u7Yw4HaD Avatar
55 months ago
Spend a lot of my day in meetings, most people don't even bother with a video being turned on. I fail to see how useful 32 people are at the same time.. let alone 50...
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pepe4life Avatar
55 months ago
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Video calling with 50 people? Sounds like a mess to me.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Farsider Avatar
55 months ago
I work in a massive Enterprise and we use Zoom too. We are all geographically distributed so face to face isn't possible.

We have embedded a culture of ‘video on by default’ and the change in professional relationship building has been staggering. Sure it was a little uncomfortable for most at first but now its the norm. It’s just so much more personable than an audio bridge or chat window.

We have held 50-100 person Zoom video calls. It’s easy to manage, performance is quite remarkable considering what is actually happening and it just works really well. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

Based on our experience, it’s easy to see why Skype have done this. They need to compete.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
squizzler Avatar
55 months ago
Utterly useless feature.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nebulance Avatar
55 months ago
We use Zoom at my work; it can handle at least 40, not sure if there’s a cap to it. Once a week we have a meeting that can get that large.

What really matters is how stable it is, and it performs quite well — very little problems, if any. Screen sharing works great, which is good because there’s always someone showing slides.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
55 months ago
50 people Just Seems Way too convoluted and I’m not sure how you could even have a practical meeting/discussion with that many people involved. I’m curious how many companies/organizations, etc. would even be want to take advantage of 50 participants.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)