TL; DR
- The Telegram team has announced several video-focused additions to the app.
- This includes 1,000 people on a video call, updated video messages, and the ability to adjust the video playback speed.
Telegram is one of the best alternatives to WhatsApp because of a large user base and a multitude of features that are missing from Facebook’s own IM app. Now the Telegram team has revealed the latest stable update that brings several notable features to the table.
The headline this time around is that Telegram is increasing the group video call limit from 30 participants to 1,000 people. There is one major caveat, however, as the ability to view your video feed is still limited to 30 people, which means the 970 additional people won’t be able to view their video. Still, Telegram positions this option as ideal for lectures, event streams, and other similar formats.
We’re also getting upgrades to the video messaging feature that will allow you to record a short video snippet that won’t be saved in your phone gallery. These videos now have a higher resolution, can be expanded and have playback controls (e.g. rewind, pause, fast-forward).
These aren’t the only video-related tweaks as the Telegram update also includes screen sharing with device audio in single video calls and the ability to adjust video playback speed.
Other notable additions in this update are the ability to automatically delete messages sent in a chat after a month (a day and a week to join as an option), the width of your pen brush automatically decreases as you zoom in on an image, new message – sending animations and new animated emojis.