Chat platform Signal has started to roll out encrypted video calls with up to five people. Video conversations with more participants will be supported in the future. The feature is available on the Signal apps for iOS and Android.
As of the most recent update, a video icon will appear in new group conversations, the developer reports. Users can initiate a video group call by pressing it. The members of a Signal group will then be notified that a video chat has started. By default, participants are shown in a grid view on the screen, but users can also choose to focus the view on the person speaking.
Currently, the video calling feature is not yet available for so-called legacy group calls, but the developer reports that such calls will be automatically converted to ‘new groups’ ‘in the coming weeks’. Currently, video group conversations are limited to a maximum of five participants. However, the developer says that this number will increase in the future.
The new feature is available in that app’s most recent update, which is currently rolling out to Android and iOS users. The Signal mobile apps have been supporting video calls with end-to-end encryption since 2017, but until recently this was only available for one-to-one calls. A beta version of the desktop app with video chat support was also released in August.
Image via Signal