2020 has a fair share of laughter and tears. And everyone in this world is sharing them.
In the 'COVID-19' coronavirus-infected world, people have familiarized themselves with technology to communicate through the distance. With that, people can stay in touch to study, work, celebrate things, and even exercise. The world is shifting to the internet, faster than ever.
And encrypted messaging app Signal is part of that.
In a blog post, Signal announced support for group video calls, "end-to-end encrypted — like everything else on Signal".
This feature supports up to five people, the company said.
Group calls can be started by tapping the video call button at the top of a supported group chat. By default, participants are shown in a grid format, but users have the ability to swipe up for a view that focuses on individual speakers.
As of the announcement, the free group call feature has been available to all users on iOS and Android.
However, users must first update the app to the latest version to get started. Because the group calls feature is only supported in the new style Signal groups, users using older versions of Signal won’t see the call button
Older legacy chats are going to get updated automatically to the new chat style in a few weeks time, said Signal.
While this feature is certainly a huge improvement, necessary in this world where coronavirus is still plaguing, the five-person limit won't make Signal anywhere near Zoom.
Signal won't be replacing the popular video conferencing services any time soon, despite the latter has been reported to have a number of privacy issues.
But still, Signal has plans to increase the maximum number of call participants over time.
"Group calls are currently limited to 5 participants, but we’re working to let you have even more participants in a group call soon. We hope group calls are a helpful new way to connect!" Signal said.
At this time, most people who use their devices frequently to chat and call should already have their own favorite app for the job.
Signal here isn't trying that hard, knowing the the competition is pretty occupied with heavyweights that include not only Zoom, but also the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, and other popular chat apps like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, LINE, Viber, Snapchat and many more.
But still, Signal knows that it has its own fan base, and those are they people Signal is trying to please.
Signal fans should appreciate that they can finally rely on their favorite app for their group calls.
By boasting end-to-end encryption on group calls, fans should have one thing less to worry about when it comes to privacy and dealing with eavesdroppers.
Signal launched its group chats back in October, alongside support for @mentions, group admins, and more granular permissions.