Facebook CatchUp is new group calling app, 5 things to know

Social media giant Facebook had announced a newgroup-calling app called the CatchUp. The CatchUp would allow users to set up group calls with up to 8 people.

Highlights

• Facebook has announced a group-calling app called CatchUp.
• The CatchUp would allow users to set up group calls with up to 8 people.
• The app is being developed by Facebook NPE.

Social media giant Facebook had announced a new group-calling app called the CatchUp. The CatchUp would allow users to set up group calls with up to 8 people. However, there is a catch, it is not a video calling app but an audio-only app. The app is being developed by Facebook NPE.

For video-calling services, Facebook had earlier released a Messenger Rooms app that can allow up to 50 people to connect in a single call. However, this is Facebook's first audio-only application.

Talking about the CatchUp app Facebook had said in a blog post, "Keeping in touch with friends and family is important, especially during this time of physical distancing. Messaging and video calls are great ways to send a quick update or connect with someone face-to-face, but speaking to someone over the phone offers a unique balance of both convenience and personal connection. Based on our studies, we found that one of the main reasons people don't call friends and family more frequently is that they don't know when they are available to talk or are worried they may reach them at an inconvenient time. CatchUp addresses this problem, and even makes group calling as easy as one tap."

So here are five things you should know about CatchUp.

— CatchUp is an audio-only app that would let people make group calls with eight people.

—Users are not required to have a Facebook account for using CatchUp. CatchUp can access your phone's contact list to make calls. However, permission to access the contact list has to be given first.

—CatchUp lets users let other users know that they are available to talk and they can also call close friends and family members who are available in the app. Catchup also lets people more than five people at once.

—Facebook has also revealed that the app lets users set their statuses to "ready to talk" and "offline" when not using the app.

—CatchUp has not been rolled out yet officially as it is being currently tested in the US and it will be gradually rolled out for iOS and Apple users in the days to come.

— However, there is no certainty whether the app would turn out to be like the way it is being speculated. As Facebook mentioned in the blog that NPE apps are experimental, subject to change, and adhere to Facebook's Terms of Service, Data Policy, and NPE Team Supplemental Terms.

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