It was known for a while that Telegram team is working on video calls feature. This feature was one of the most requested by Telegram users according to multiple polls that Telegram team was sharing. In addition to that, video calls are already available on WhatsApp, Telegram's biggest competitor that is operated by Facebook.
Missing voice calls feature was also a blocker for many users who were considering a switch to Telegram messenger. The next Telegram release supposed to fully catch up on feature parity with WhatsApp.
Telegram team also gave us a hint on twitter after their last release by starting it with:
Introducing Video Ca... *ah, no, not yet* ...
So everyone knew what to expect from the next update. Firstly it was released on iOS beta and macOS beta, while Android beta came at the end just recently.
In order to try video calls yourself, you can open any of your contacts and you will see a video call button on top. Video option can be also enabled during a normal call by turning your camera on.
The video quality is decent and already usable. You still may encounter some issues with this feature especially if you will have a call between different platforms like Android and macOS for example.
At the end of every call, you can also share and rate your experience in the popup form. This form also have a flag to include technical information to the report for devs to help them understand the issue that you have.
UPDATE: The important addition mentioned in comments - Telegram will most likely to release it on 14s of August when Telegram will have an anniversary.
But if you want to try it immediately, you may want to check this guide as well 👇
Alexey Shabanov
After this feature will be released, what would you want Telegram team to work on?
