Telegram will join the video calling app revolution, announces new features and 400 million users

In the midst of COVID-19, which caused immense user activity boosts for video calling apps such as Zoom, telegram announced its own plans to also join into that competitive market by bringing "secure group video calls in 2020."

"Video calls in 2020 are much like messaging in 2013," the company adds, promising the feature to come sometime this year, without specifying a more precise time frame.

The company also shared its newest milestone - getting 400 million monthly users, up from 300 million just a year ago, with no less than 1.5 million signing up each day, making Telegram the most downloaded social app in over 20 countries around the globe.


In the blog post, Telegram additionally lists some of its newest features and initiatives, such as its plans to crowd-source EUR 400,000, to be distributed among creators of educational tests, in an effort to create a database of educational tests for all subjects and levels, and provide support towards the global need for educational tools during the coronavirus pandemic. It's noted that 2 billion students around the world are currently away from schools, and are in need of such tools.

On the side of new features, Telegram added a Quiz Mode to Telegram Polls in January, which was notably used for more serious educational tests and quizzes as of recently. So the newest update to Quiz Mode promptly brings more educational features.

A new attachment menu for Telegram's Android app was also implemented, aiming to make the process of attaching files sleeker and easier to use. More fun too, thanks to its new animated icons.


As mentioned earlier, this is a good time for one of the most popular social media apps to implement group video calls, and it's likely that the company will add this new feature as soon as it can, while the pandemic still has a grasp over most of the world.

In the meantime, one of the most popular video conferencing apps, Zoom, has been facing an immense number of security-related issues, causing it to be banned in many businesses and even some public schools. Zoom recently announced its 90-day security plan to earn back user trust, in its efforts to sustain its growth in popularity, in the increasingly competitive video calling app market.