Photo sharing apps are abundant be it Snapchat, Instagram, these apps give a chance to tell our story in our own way. Thanks to filters, stickers, face-masks, and other funky stuff, the platform itself is quite expressive giving users a chance to share photos, videos with their followers. Instagram is one of the best and top rated app with around 800 million users worldwide. Yes, the app sports some features that might be heavily inspired by Snapchat, but still it is ruling the segment like a boss. Be it Spotify, GoPro integration, AR Camera effects, the app is literally one of a kind.
Right from having one-to-one chats, to post 1-minute-long videos, the platform has everything that one would desire. On the other hand, there are tons of apps that offer video calling to stay in touch with closed ones, Instagram too is joining the pack as it is the new one to introduce the ‘Video Calling’ feature which lets you interact with your friends directly through the video. In this article, we will explain to you how you can do a video call on Instagram and stay in touch with your friends and followers directly. Since this feature is directly integrated within the main app, you don’t have to install any third-party apps or tweak the U.I to do a video call. Let’s get started.
Note: Since the feature is recently added to Instagram, don’t worry if you haven’t got it yet as the company mentioned that the feature is slowly rolling out in phases. It is available for both Android and iOS which is a good thing.
Here’s how you can do a video call on Instagram:
- As we mentioned earlier, the Video calling feature is directly integrated within the main app, so if you’re not using Instagram, head over to PlayStore and install it and log in. You can create an account or log in through Facebook if you are new.
- Open the Instagram app, and tap on the flying paper pane on the right corner. This takes you to Instagram Direct which is an inbox where all your chats are present including replies to your story. From the list, tap on the friend’s icon with whom you want to do a video call.
- At the top of the chat thread, you will find the ‘new camera icon’ Tap on it to start the video call.
- Since video calling is two way, your recipient must also have this feature enabled. So suggest him/her update the app to the latest version.
- The video calling feature gives the ability to switch between the front and back end camera. By default, Instagram uses the front camera.
- If you want to just have a simple voice call, just turn off the camera and keep the mic turned on.
- It also lets you minimize the video call to a little floating window by tapping the square button at the top left of the call interface. So you can still continue to browse the app while on a video call.
- To end the video call, tap on the floating window and hit the red end button. That’s it.
Conclusion: This is how simple Instagram video calling is. For now, you can only do one-on-one video calls as it is in testing, but if we were to guess, the company might soon expand group video calling to everyone down the road. With group video calling is slowly becoming a thing since Snapchat has it, iOS 12 brings group FaceTime, Instagram would surely roll this out feature. With Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger becoming go to social media apps to get in touch with friends, Instagram has every chance to replace Skype which is slowly becoming phased out due to its poor quality and lack of modern features. So, do try out this and let us know how was your experience.
