Popular mobile messaging app WhatsApp has released an update that increases the number of people you can have in a group chat. A user can now add 256 people in a WhatsApp group. The group chat was limited to 100 people earlier, which was raised from 50 in November 2014. In the latest version (version 2.12.437) of the WhatsApp on their website the limit for members in a group chat has been extended to 256 from 100.

The facility is available on both iOS and Android devices. You need to update the client from the App Store or Play Store to see the change. The new feature might take some time to reach all its users.

The messaging app has undergone several changes since February 2014 when Facebook acquired WhatsApp. WhatsApp recently had removed the yearly subscription fees and made the instant messaging service completely free. WhatsApp is also working on adding video calling service to the app.

Recently WhatsApp announced that it now has more than 1 billion active users each month. This figure makes it the leader in the mobile messaging market.