Facebook-owned WhatsApp has increased the maximum number of people allowed in a group chat to 256 from 100. The update, which was reported by NDTV Gadgets 360, is available for Android and iOS for now, and will be extended to Windows Phone and Blackberry users eventually.

The messaging company scrapped its annual fee of Rs 68 last month. WhatsApp, which has 1 billion active users, is working towards adding features to the service so that people can directly connect with businesses and organisations. Latest data suggests that in a day, 42 billion messages, 1.6 billion photos, 250 million videos are exchanged on Whatsapped. It has 1 billion groups, said the report.