Enticing wide range of audience, Instagram soon to launch a voice and video calling feature

California, March 13: Descending in the competition of leading ahead in social media arena, Facebook, Snapchat have made their base strong and secure when it comes to connecting people socially. The new member to join the league and walks towards the progressing path is none other than Instagram. The photo-sharing app will soon imbibe Call and Video Calling features.

 

Instagram and Instagram Directs Android Application Packages (APKs) suggest that the Calling and Video Calling features will soon be available in making the social app more similar to its rival Snapchat. Although for now, Instagram is testing a voice and video calling feature, codes in its Android app.

While the photo-sharing network hasn’t made anything official yet, files titled “call” and “video call” with phone and camera icons respectively have been spotted in its Android application packages (APKs). APKs typically reflect files for an app’s unreleased features. The “call” and “video call” files are said to be buried within the standalone Instagram Direct app.

The field of social networking sites has seen considerable changes and each changing features have attracted the audience making it a hit in the groups. Prior to this in January, Whatsapp Industry blog had hinted about Instagram could potentially allow its users who chat on Instagram DM to also make voice calls.

However, the Facebook-owned company, is tight-lipped about the new feature.

Instagram, of course, is not the first social and communication app to consider a calling feature. Rival Snapchat has had a video calling option since 2014. Now, it even allows people to use augmented reality (AR) lenses and overlay their faces with dog and flower filters during calls.

Facebook Messenger, meanwhile, has a dedicated call button that shows up as soon as the app is launched. It also allows split-screen group video calling for up to six people. Then there’s WhatsApp, which is primarily a communication app that made voice-and-video-calling commonplace, while also rolling out an Instagram-like “Stories” feature last year.

However, possibilities have been such that the company would not release the feature entirely because it is more likely to resemble the Snapchat features. Moreover the two social networking sites have a lot of similarities pertaining to the way people view their stories. Instagram has already followed Snapchat’s disappearing photo feature in Stories, and made a massive success of it. Instagram Stories now has more than 300 million daily active users compared to Snapchat’s 178 million.