Telegram-style video messages arrive on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is inspired by Telegram and now allows you to show your activities to friends and relatives without necessarily having to make a Story or a similar video. The service is introducing instant video messages similar to Telegram’s that allow you to reply in chats with videos lasting up to a minute. To do this you need to tap and hold the button to record video and swipe up to continue recording hands-free, a bit like audio messages.
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The videos will automatically play in silent mode, so you don’t have to worry that they will start with the audio, which will instead be activated with the touch. As with most features on WhatsApp, instant messages are end-to-end encrypted to ensure a particularly high level of privacy. The feature will be available to all users in the “coming weeks,” or so the company has officially stated.
This feature probably won’t replace Snapchat or Telegram for many users. And yet, WhatsApp still continues to be the most used app in the messaging industry and is mostly based on calls and text messages. However, the feature might be appreciated if you’d rather avoid switching to other apps just to send burst videos.
This way you can quickly share news when a text or audio message isn’t enough, or you can simply react to a friend with something more personal than a sticker.
A few numbers
While WhatsApp had more than 2 billion active users as of last year, Telegram is growing rapidly with around 700 million active users every month. Snapchat is still growing despite stiff competition from other social platforms.
While instant video messages may not convince users to sign up for the platform, they could prevent WhatsApp fans from drifting towards the competition.
We also remind you that Apple is preparing for an important novelty in this sector: with iOS 17 it will introduce the FaceTime video answering machine for iPhone users.
