Telegram rolls out Voice Chats feature: Know how to use it

New Delhi: Telegram on Wednesday announced that it is bringing a new Voice Chats feature to the instant messenger.

The new Voice Chats feature works a lot like voice channels on apps like Discord, and it offers users a persistent conference call that they can join or leave as wish.

“Any Telegram group can now become a voice chat room that is always on. Voice Chats run in parallel to the existing text and media-based communication, adding a live layer of ephemeral talk to the group. They can be used as virtual office spaces for teams or informal lounges for any community,” the company said in a statement.

Groups with active voice chats have a special bar at the top that shows who is talking at the moment (and even how loud they are). 

One will now see a ‘Voice Chat’ banner at the top of group chat when a call is active. It will show how many active participants are in the call and one just need to tap the ‘Join’ button to hop in. One will be muted by default but can unmute or hold the ‘mic’ button to talk.

Once joined the call, the user can navigate back to the app and explore other chats or send messages to the family.

Android users further benefit from a floating widget. They can navigate around the phone, with key calling features such as mute, speaker, and end call button being accessible to them at all times.

To create a Voice Chat and find your own unique way of using them, open the profile of any group where you’re an admin, tap (⋯) or (⋮) and select Start Voice Chat.

“In the coming weeks, we’ll be refining them further, listening to your feedback, improving noise suppression, and adding more features like video and screen sharing,” Telegram said.

Along with the new Voice Chats feature, the latest update for Telegram brings a minor update for animated stickers which should improve loading times, support for SD card storage on Android devices.