Lot of us were waiting for this, a perfectly secured way to have video calls. Telegram, the secure messaging app has launched video calling facility on its service. Currently, you could have one-to-one secure video calling on the messaging app.
Note that the one-on-one video calls on Telegram app is in alpha version, means not that much stable and you could encounter some bugs. However, in our test, the video calling was smooth (even on low bandwidth connection) without any interruption. The video calls are available on both Android and iOS of the messaging app (latest updated version).
Just like any other messaging app or service you have used, the process for starting a video call in Telegram is easy. You can start a video call from the profile page of the person you want to connect with or directly from the chat window by clicking the video call icon from the menu (three-dot menu). Video calls support picture-in-picture mode, so you could multitask (scroll through other chats, browse etc) while still maintaining eye contact. Besides you can switch video on or off at any time during voice calls, thus quickly switch to audio-only calls.
Just like Telegram’s Secret Chats and Voice Calls, video calls are also protected with end-to-end encryption. You can confirm it by comparing the four emoji shown on-screen for you and your chat partner. If they match, then you can be double sure that calls are 100 per cent secure.
“Our apps for Android and iOS have reproducible builds, so anyone can verify encryption and confirm that their app uses the same open-source code that we publish with each update,” said Telegram in a blog post.
Initially, Telegram would only support one-to-one video calling. However, the messaging service is bringing group video calls in the coming months.