Telegram said today that current video calling options either offer security or usability, and not both. That was obviously meant as a not-so subtle swipe at Zoom, which has become a big competitor for Telegram recently. So, Telegram, is launching secure group video calls, but not until later this year.
In addition to today’s news about secure group video calls, Telegram also announced that it has hit 400 million monthly active users. Having doubled its active users in just two years.
Zoom has been targeted for not being secure, Telegram looks to capitalize on that
Since everyone has been forced to work from home and social distance, Zoom has become pretty popular. As it’s an easy to use video calling software, that is going also free.
But, since Zoom’s userbase has grown dramatically since the beginning of March, so has calls for it to be more secure. Researchers found that Zoom calls were routed through China – it is a Chinese company, after all. As well as a number of other security issues that have risen over the past month. Zoom also claimed to offer end-to-end encrypted calls, which turns out to be false.
So Telegram is planning to offer a video calling option that is both secure and usable. And since it will be part of the Telegram app, it is going to be very easy to use. And with Telegram’s rapidly growing user-base, it’s going to be very easy to get many on-board. Seeing as it is already a very popular messaging platform.
It’s just a shame that Telegram doesn’t have this feature ready to go right now. When many of us need this the most.
Telegram reached 400 Million users just a year after hitting 300 Million
Just a year ago, it announced that it had reached 300 million monthly active users. And now, it has hit 400 million. Making Telegram the fastest growing messaging platform in the world. And it’s quickly coming for Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp, which are the two biggest messaging platforms right now.
It still has a bit to go though, seeing as WhatsApp announced two billion users as February 2020.
Another interesting number that Telegram announced today is that about 1.5 million people are signing up for its service every single day. That is rather impressive actually.
Telegram has quickly become popular for offering end-to-end encrypted messaging. And now it is looking to do the same with video calling. Hopefully that feature will roll out sooner than expected.