- Telegram has rolled out new video calling features to take on the video conferencing heavyweights.
- One new feature includes screen sharing within group video calls across various devices.
Telegram remains a solid alternative to WhatsApp. More recently, it gained video calling smarts to help bolster its popularity during the pandemic. Now, it’s gunning for video conferencing tools with a new group video calling and screen sharing feature.
Users can now convert group voice calls into group video calls by tapping the camera icon on the call screen. Voice calls can still host “unlimited” participants, but only 30 users in a group can participate with video. Telegram notes this limit will “increase soon.”
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Group admins can also pin a user’s video feed, effectively making it the first screen new users see when joining the video chat. This is available on mobile and desktop, too, and should be useful for teachers hosting online classes. Users can also tap on any one of the users’ video screens to make it fullscreen on their device.
Syncing with these improvements is the ability to share screens. Users can tap the three-dot menu button and select Share Screen from the menu to enable the feature from their tablet or smartphone. Notably, on desktop, the most recent user who shares their screen will be pinned automatically. It should make Telegram’s video call experience feel similar to the likes of Zoom and Google Meet.
The new update is available across Telegram’s mobile, desktop, and tablet apps and interfaces. You can download Telegram for Android using the button below.