Telegram Messaging App Gains End-to-End Encrypted Video Calling

Secure messaging app Telegram has announced the launch of a video calling feature for its iOS app that the company says is end-to-end encrypted, just like phone calls and text-based messages conducted over the chat platform. Calls can be started from a contact's profile page.

All video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. To confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on-screen for you and your chat partner – if they match, your call is 100% secured by time-tested encryption also used in Telegram's Secret Chats and Voice Calls.

The feature is an alpha version, so there's more work to do on it before it's fully robust, but it already includes support for switching from audio to video and vice versa at any time, as well as picture-in-picture mode, which means users can read and respond to other messages while they're chatting to the person on the other end of the call.

Telegram originally announced in April that it planned to introduce group video calls later this year. In its latest post, the company said group video calls will arrive in the coming months, offering users an alternative to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and other rival video-conferencing enabled platforms.

Telegram is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Telegram

Top Rated Comments

Sasparilla

36 months ago

In what way(s) exactly is Signal more secure?

Well, you can start with the encryption. Telegram uses its own custom encryption, which security experts have panned from the beginning (since it was originally developed in Russia, I believe, with hands off, magically, by the FSB, this isn't so surprising - they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective) - that's from early on. Reminds me of that crippled encryption situation the NSA had put in place way back when here in the U.S..

Signal's encryption uses open standards that have been reviewed and approved by experts in the field.

https://gizmodo.com/why-you-should-stop-using-telegram-right-now-1782557415

Here's a review of the app from a privacy focused website:

https://restoreprivacy.com/telegram-messenger/

Alot of people use it though, and social pressure is powerful even causing people to act against one's own best interests. Look at all the people using Facebooks products.

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

Lucky you, Signal does have a desktop app: https://signal.org/en/download/

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

happyprozak

36 months ago

I think they mean more respect as in:
Android ultimately hands the choice of what software you can have, malicious or non-malicious, via the use of sideloading without having to phone home to Apple every 7/365 days.

Not that it matters due to the various jailbreaks to sideload ad-infinitum, but it’s more the principle really.

It does matter because the average user barely knows how to use their phone, let alone manage to jailbreak it. This is true for both Android and Apple users. While Android users can sideload, it's a poisoned chalice and the vast majority of users have no clue it's even possible.

I would guess that 99.99% of the population is better off because of the app store protectionism on both Google and Apple app stores.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

feldpos

36 months ago

Well, you can start with the encryption. Telegram uses its own custom encryption, which security experts have panned from the beginning (since it was originally developed in Russia, I believe, with hands off, magically, by the FSB, this isn't so surprising - they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective) - that's from early on. Reminds me of that crippled encryption situation the NSA had put in place way back when here in the U.S..

Please stop spreading this rubbish. There's no concern about their crypto, only the fact that not /everything/ is E2E. Telegram's founded by the Durov brothers who hate Putin. They're not backdooring their system.

Regular chats == not E2E, but good enough. All of Telegram's cloud is fully encrypted and each datacenter holds the keys to decrypt the data in a different datacenter in another country. You can't raid Telegram's servers and get anything useful. These chats also offer a lot of features that other platforms like Signal do not.

Secret chats == Fully E2E, just like Signal

Telegram gives you both security and convenience depending on what you need.

You can delete the messages off the other person's device too, which isn't possible in Signal unless you set messages to expire beforehand.

Signal is slow and terrible. I've never had a video or audio call work correctly. Telegram's work great.

Everything you need to know is in their FAQ https://telegram.org/faq#security

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

miq

36 months ago

I was really upset

Seriously? Lol.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

videosoul

36 months ago

Signal does this for a long time and in a much more secure way.

In what way(s) exactly is Signal more secure?

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Bustycat

36 months ago

Although I am a long-time Telegram user, I was really upset by their initial statement about iOS App Store. It was later removed after Telegram version 7.0 was approved later within a half of day.

Why not on iOS?
We would like to apologize to all our iOS users for launching this feature on Android only. Apple has failed to review this update in time, even though we submitted it to the App Store several days before sending it to Google Play.

If you're on iOS and would like to try Telegram Video Calls, you'll have to wait until Apple lets you – or switch to a platform that has more respect for its users and developers, like Android.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200814165954/https://telegram.org/blog/video-calls