Telegram adds group voice chats feature in latest update

Currently, the voice Chats feature supports a few thousand participants and in the coming weeks, Telegram promises to improve noise suppression while adding more features like video and screen sharing.

Telegram has added a new 'Voice Chats' feature that can turn any group into an always-on voice chat room. It runs in parallel to the existing text and media-based conversations.

"Today, Telegram groups get an entire new dimension with Voice Chats - persistent conference calls that members can join and leave as they please. While Voice Chats are not group calls, they can achieve similar goals - at the same time offering flexibility instead of old school scheduling. In larger groups, they also provide serendipitous opportunities for talking to people," Telegram wrote in a blog post.

Image Credit: Telegram

Groups with active voice chats have a special bar at the top showing the number of participants and anyone can join the conversation by tapping the 'Join' button. After joining a voice chat, participants are free to move around the app, browse conversations and send messages and they also have the ability to quickly mute and unmute themselves at any time.

Moreover, Android users can enjoy the full Voice Chat experience with a system-wide floating widget that shows mic controls and who is currently speaking, even when Telegram is in the background.

Image Credit: Telegram

On the desktop version of Telegram, users can choose a 'push-to-talk' key for Voice Chats to control their mic.

Currently, the Voice Chats feature supports a few thousand participants and in the coming weeks, Telegram promises to improve noise suppression while adding more features like video and screen sharing.

The latest update also brings updated stickers that Telegram says will load even faster than before along with support for SD card storage and new animations on Android. Further, the update introduces editing improvements for the media editor and more animated emoji.