- Telegram announced that it will release a secure group video calling feature which will provide both-security and usability unlike other current options.
- The Telegram app has reached 400 million monthly active users doubling its user base since 2018.
- Telegram is also releasing various new features and the details of these features are published in a blog post by the messaging giant.
Messaging services like WhatsApp, Zoom, Whatsapp, Google Meet, and Telegram are competing with each other to gather more users after the coronavirus lockdowns have made video chats increasingly popular and critical. It seems that Telegram is focusing on privacy and security to get ahead of other similar apps. On Friday, the messaging app Telegram revealed that it is developing a secure group video conversation feature that will be rolled out later this year. According to Telegram, current options for group video calling offer either privacy or usability but both will be available in Telegram’s version of the service. The company disclosed this plan in a blog post along with the news that Telegram has doubled its user base in two years reaching 400 million monthly active users.
It seems that Telegram is taking a dig at ‘user-friendly’ Zoom by claiming that current options for group video conversations are either secure or usable as Zoom was hit by several privacy scandals during the recent months. Critics noted that Zoom’s claims to provide end-to-end encryption were false and misleading as the default security settings of the Zoom app made it easier for anonymous users to join a video conference. With that being said, Telegram has also partly experienced its criticism share from the privacy and security community as the end-to-end encryption in Telegram is also not enabled by default.
Telegram said that it has reached 400 million users mark a year after passing 300 million users. To hit the mark means that Telegram has doubled its user base since the year 2018 as there were 200 million monthly active Telegram users in 2018. Telegram is currently getting a massive amount of new users as it is observing at least 1.5 million sign up requests for new accounts daily and is now the top downloaded social media application in more than 20 countries across the globe, Telegram stated in its blog post. But this user base still faints when compared to WhatsApp which reached 2 billion users during February of this year.
Telegram also provided the details of a range of new features that it launched on Friday. These features include providing users with the capacity to add informational snippets to quizzes which you can create on the Telegram app. Telegram also introduced a directory into the app which will browse the 20000 sticker’s collection available on the app. A new feature is also being introduced to Telegram’s macOS client. You can view the complete details of these new features being introduced by Telegram on the blog post shared by the company.
Read next: Where WhatsApp Falters, Telegram Proceeds and Shines
