At a time when most of the world is heavily relying on video calling features to keep connected with the co-works, friends, and family amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has launched a new application named CatchUp for voice calls.
The app, made by the company’s internal R&D group named NPE Team, aims to make it easier for friends and family members to coordinate phone calls and setup group calling with up to 8 people. At this time, the app is limited to the United States only.
One of the interesting features of the voice-only application is that it flags when the users are available for the call. Further, it has been confirmed that users won’t need a Facebook account to use the series and the app works with your phone’s contacts list.
Using the CatchUp application and placing a phone call is quite simple. You just need to tap a button to initiate a voice call and to add more people to the conversation, just merge calls just like you do with the regular calls on your phone.
Facebook says that the idea for the application actually came about prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent quarantine, but the NPE Team accelerated the development process because of the COVID-19 pandemic.