Telegram has finally brought the long-awaited video calling feature for its users. With the pandemic causing lockdown across several parts globally, video calling has become the most sought-after feature for virtual meets, conferences, and online classes.
Although it’s a bit late, Telegram kept its promise and added the video call functionality on its desktop and mobile version of the app. The feature available on Android and iOS platforms is launched as part of Telegram celebrating its seventh anniversary.
Notably, a beta version of the app revealed the video calling feature support last week. And Telegram has now released a stable build via its latest update v7.0.0. The latest update shows the video feature call to be in the alpha version, which means it will likely get future updates and have more functionality.
At present, the feature offers a one-to-one video call, which is a tad bit disappointing given its rival WhatsApp allows users to make an 8-persons video call at a time. But not all that is bad with the new Telegram update. The video calls in the app are end-to-end encrypted (an important ingredient missing on the popular Zoom app).
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How To Activate Telegram Video Call Feature
To activate and use the feature, all you have to do is update the app to its latest version (if you haven’t), open the app, and tap on the contact you want to make a video call. The app will show four emoji on both your and the recipient’s screen. If both the screen shows the same four emojis, then the call is encrypted.
Also, there is picture-in-picture mode as well, which means you can simultaneously make a video call and send a text to other contacts.
Moreover, you can switch to a voice call while using the video calling functionality. Telegram cited that users are provided with the option to turn on or off the feature during video calls or even while they are chatting with other recipients.
Besides this, Telegram has added a bunch of animated emoji options for the commonly used emoji. Basically a larger animated emoji will pop up when you send a single emoji in a chat.
To recall, Telegram introduced the voice call support (which too is end-to-end encrypted) three years ago. WhatsApp however, was way ahead of its rival as it announced video calling feature a year before Telegram’s voice call launch. Although Telegram is behind time, it has promised to bring group video calling feature and other improvements in the coming months.