Telegram Now Supports Video Calls

It has been long overdue but Telegram has finally introduced a video call feature to its messaging platform. The Whatsapp rival, has been trailing behind the competition due in part to the lack of several widely used features.

But that is no longer the case, as of today, Telegram has released the alpha version of the video call feature for both Android and iOS. You can start a call by selecting it from a contact’s profile by tapping on the three dots on the top right hand corner of the page.

Telegram also grants users the ability to switch a video on or off at any time during voice calls. There’s also support for picture-in-picture mode, which allows you to maintain and view a video call while on another task. This similar in nature to what’s available with Whatsapp’s voice calls.

Credit: Telegram

The company says that all video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. And to confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on screen with that of your chat partner. If they match, your call is 100% secured by time-tested encryption used for Secret Chats and Voice Calls.

Users will need to temper their expectations for now, because Telegram’s Video Chat feature is still in the alpha stage. This is a designation assigned to software that hasn’t fully matured, but still requires improvement in several areas that include overall reliability.

There are more features and improvements on the way, which includes the introduction of the group video calls feature in the coming months. It’s been 7 years since Telegram was launched, and it is now considered one of the top 10 most downloaded apps all over the world. Despite this, Whatsapp remains the prevalent online messaging service, for now.