Popular messaging app Telegram has finally added a group video chat feature to its mobile and desktop apps. This was something that the platform had promised to come back in April 2020.
According to ANI, Voice chats in any group on the platform can be turned into video calls by tapping the camera icon to turn on the device’s video. Telegram says an unlimited number of users can participate in an audio call, but the group video calls will be limited to the first 30 people who can join the voice chat.
The company said in its announcement, that they will increase the limit “soon”. Users can also share their screens during a video call.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said in January that the company has reached 500 million active users, many of whom came to the platform after the Facebook-owned rival chat platform WhatsApp bungled the introduction of a new privacy policy.
However the messaging platform introduced the group video calls which lags the competition; WhatsApp, which had 2 billion users as of February, added a group video and voice calling back in 2018.
Along with long-awaited group video calls, Telegram has added several other new features, including noise suppression, and animated backgrounds.
The users on Telegram’s iOS or Android apps can choose from several default options or create their animated backgrounds.