Starting in May, Telegram users will be able to make group video calls. The new feature was confirmed and made official by Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the company.
The announcement was made through a text message published on his official Telegram channel, “We will be adding a video dimension to our voice chats in May, making Telegram a powerful platform for group video calls. Screen sharing, encryption, noise-cancellation, desktop and tablet support – everything you can expect from a modern video conferencing tool, but with Telegram-level UI, speed and encryption.”
Midst pandemic, Zoom and other video conferencing apps have changed the way we work and meet friends and family virtually. With this group video calling feature, Telegram adds a new alternative to Zoom and other apps.
Technical data of the new feature is scarce, such as what type of encryption will these video calls have. This is important because Zoom was very reluctant to implement end-to-end encryption security in its video calls. But Telegram doesn’t have the best track record in that regard either; group chats, for example, are not end-to-end encrypted by default.
Durov has made reference to the new Telegram web applications, known as Telegram Web K and Telegram Web Z; the CEO has confirmed that video calling will come to these apps, but that they are still in development. Video calls on the desktop versions of Telegram are already in the testing phase.
