Back in January, Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov confirmed on Twitter that indeed the popular multiplatform chat app will be getting voice calls. Now, it appears that Telegram is actively testing voice calling capabilities on its Android app.
I was able to test out the functionality on the Telegram beta app where it can currently be enabled. (Here’s how to do that). Calls are actually very clear but there’s a bit of lag. It takes a while for the person on the other end of the line to hear what you just said. WhatsApp had similar issues when it launched voice calls back in 2015.
By bringing voice calls to its platform, Telegram joins other popular messenger apps like Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp, Viber among others. Privacy-centric messaging app Signal is the latest to join the fray. However, Telegram will be giving users the ability to verify that their calls are actually encrypted end-to-end. Currently, WhatsApp also offers encrypted calls.
Telegram had famously stated that it wasn’t interested in introducing voice calling on the app back in 2015 but it looks like things have since changed. Never say never.
Featured image source: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
