Telegram Beta Adds Group Voice Calling on Android (Guide)

Dec. 5, 2020

In April this year whenTelegram hit over 400 million monthly users, the company hinted at its plans to introduce group video calling by the end of the year. While we haven’t spotted any evidence regarding group video calling just yet, the company has nowstarted testing group voice calling on Android.

How to Use Telegram Group Voice Calling on Android

With the latest Telegram beta version 7.3.0, Telegram has added experimental support for group voice calling. To access the feature, open a group and tap on the group header to expand it. You will now see the list of group members, notification settings, and the ability to rename the group. On this page, tap on the ellipsis (vertical three dots) icon present in the top right corner andchoose ‘Start Voice chat’.

When you initiate a group audio chat, a pop-up appears that urges you to confirm the selection. Interestingly,there is a checkbox that lets just admins talk. This way, participants who are not admins will be on a listen-only mode. This is a neat option and will certainly be convenient in large group chats. In addition, theoption to initiate calls is limited to admins.

Once you’ve joined the call,you will be on mute by default. You can either tap on the large unmute button or hold the mic button to speak, much like how you send voice notes. When you’ve unmuted yourself, the blue mic button will turn green and will show visual animations when you speak. Take a look at the feature in action below.

From my experience, Telegram’s group voice calling is on par withother messaging apps. I didn’t notice any significant latency when I made a few calls with it. However, the process to initiate a group call is a bit cumbersome at this moment. Before the feature makes its way to the stable version, it will be convenient if Telegram adds a call button right on the group’s home page.

If you’re interested to try out group voice chats on Telegram, you candownload the latest version from Microsoft’s App Center. Do keep in mind that this beta version will co-exist alongside the stable version. Hence, you can try out the feature while staying on Telegram’s stable channel. Also, for more such tricks, don’t forget to check out ourbest Telegram tips and tricksarticle.

Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.