Telegram: Telegram allows 1000 people to join video calls, but there is a catch – Times of India

At the beginning of the pandemic when the world was just getting used to the idea of attending video calls for the most basic of things, video conferencing platform Zoom became popular instantly. One of the many reasons for that was support for up to 100 participants to join a video call.
Now, we are living in a time when video calls are as basic as sending a WhatsApp message and our go-to solution for being absent from a meeting or a wedding or a funeral. Perhaps that is why the support for hosting any live event with support for making as many people as possible watch it is the need of the hour.
Telegram, the popular rival to WhatsApp, has rolled out a new update that comes with a feature that will enable up to 1000 people to watch anything together. What you must note is that it is only the limit for how many people can view anything together, as the limit for Group video calls to broadcast video from both their camera and screen remains 30.
Telegram has also said that it will increase the limit for this “…until all humans on Earth can join one group call…”
What rivals offer
In its free and basic plan, Zoom offers support for 100 participants. Microsoft’s Skype offers support for 50 participants while Teams allows up to 100 participants normally and extended support for up to 300 during the pandemic. Google Meet lets 100 people join a video call at a time, while its dedicated video calling app, Google Duo allows up to 32 participants.
Other new Telegram features
Besides rolling out support for allowing 1000 people to view anything together, Telegram will also allow its users to send video messages at a higher resolution.
The media player in the app will come with support to alter the playback speed and change it from 0.5x, 1.5x and 2x. Screen sharing for one-on-one video calls has also been added along with auto-deletion of messages after a month.