Telegram to take on Zoom with a new video calling service

The company has announced that Telegram is developing a video calling service that will be launched this year. The messaging app also announced that it has reached 400 million monthly active users.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The company has announced that Telegram is developing a video calling service that will be launched this year.
• Telegram claimed that their video calling services will be both “secure” and usable
• Telegram has reached 400,000,000 monthly users, up from 300 million a year ago.

The video conferencing app Zoom will now have a new competitor as the messaging app Telegram is all set to launch its video calling services. The company has announced that Telegram is developing a video calling service that will be launched this year. The messaging app also announced that it has reached 400 million monthly active users.

Taking a jibe at Zoom, Telegram claimed that their video calling services will be both “secure” and usable. "Video calls in 2020 are much like messaging in 2013. There are apps that are either secure or usable, but not both. We'd like to fix that," the messaging app said in a statement.’

Zoom, that became increasingly popular during the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, was pulled up due to a host of security and privacy flaws. This forced the company to announce a feature freeze for 90 days and they are also rolling out the Zoom 5.0 update this week. The new update promises password protection and improved encryption with support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption. However, despite that, the number of users has gone up from 200 million in March to 300 million in the last couple of weeks.

Talking about its measures to improve privacy policies, Zoom had said, "We take a holistic view of our users’ privacy and our platform’s security. From our network to our feature set to our user experience, everything is being put through rigorous scrutiny. On the back end, AES 256-bit GCM encryption will raise the bar for securing our users’ data in transit. On the front end, I’m most excited about the Security icon in the meeting menu bar. This takes our security features, existing and new, and puts them front and center for our meeting hosts. With millions of new users, this will make sure they have instant access to important security controls in their meetings."

Coming to Telegram, the messaging app didn’t reveal much about how many participants will be allowed, and when the new feature will be rolled out. But they did reveal that their user base has gone up to 400 million active users.

"Telegram has reached 400,000,000 monthly users, up from 300 million a year ago. Every day at least 1.5 million new users sign up for Telegram. Features like folders, cloud storage, and desktop support make Telegram ideal for remote work and study during the quarantine," the company said in a statement.

Currently, there are too many video calling apps to choose from such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. Facebook also announced its video calling services called the Messenger Room that allows as much as 50 participants to join a video call. WhatsApp too had extended its video calling limit from four to eight.