Earlier this week, Telegram got a significant update that improved the payment system on the platform, added the ability to schedule voice chats, and more. Hot on the heels of that announcement, though, Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov shared on his personal channel that some more improvements are on the way for next month.
Specifically, the voice chats feature is getting a video-infused upgrade, meaning you"ll finally be able to take part in group video chats on Telegram. The app has typically focused on messaging, with voice and video only recently becoming more of a priority. One-on-one video calls were added last summer, and group voice chats were introduced right before the end of the year. Group video chats should help Telegram catch up with other popular messaging services, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and even tools like Zoom.
In his post, Durov also mentions support for features such as screen sharing and noise cancellation, which are slightly less common features, but still possible on services like Microsoft Teams. However, it"s not specifically stated that this is coming next month as well, so we"ll have to wait for further announcements on that front. The message also mentions encryption for video chats, another feature that"s common in professional video conferencing tools.
Telegram has been growing significantly in the past year, having recently crossed 500 million active users. Recently, its founder also announced plans to start monetizing the service through non-intrusive ads, premium features, and potentially paid sticker packs, though we have yet to see any of that materialize.