Highlights
- Instagram is found to include evidence for voice and video calling
- APK teardown of the Instagram apps revealed the new features
- Instagram refused the confirm the development
Instagram may already be your favourite app for
sharing memories. But soon, it is likely to become a destination for
your voice or video calls as an APK teardown of the Instagram for
Android and Instagram Direct apps has shown some mysterious files
that are pointing towards the new features.
Facebook, the parent
company behind Instagram, could use the voice and video calling
support to take on Snapchat, which already faced criticism for a
recent redesign.
The APK files of the Instagram and Instagram
Direct apps includes button icons for "Call" and "Video
Call" functionality, reports
TechCrunch, citing Twitter user Ishan Agarwal. An Instagram
spokesperson refused to give official confirmation on the new finding
and told TechCrunch, "I'm afraid we can't comment on this one."
However, there is a history of burying unreleased features within the
app code.
Folks at XDA Developers claim
that they've spotted a couple of strings within the Instagram app
that are defining the video chat feature. Incidentally, a video call
button was spotted in January that appeared to be testing internally.
It is worth noting here that while features to
enable voice and video calls are new for Instagram users, these
aren't something fresh for Snapchatters. Snapchat launched video
calling support back in 2014 and added features to record audio and
video notes in 2016.
Having said that, the addition of voice and video
calling is expected to give a sharp edge to Instagram to fierce the
competition created by Snapchat. Instagram already has Facebook and
WhatsApp as the two platforms to make communication for its users
easier and convenient than what they can get from Snapchat. Moreover,
Instagram could enable calling support to Facebook and WhatsApp
accounts to reach new heights.
As of September last year, Instagram has a
userbase of over 800 million users - with 500 million daily active
users. It lately brought features such as customisable privacy
controls for Instagram Direct, 'Type' mode for text-only stories, and
GIF stickers to attract more users.
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2018
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