After announcing last month that video chat was coming soon to its app, Instagram has now confirmed that the feature is rolling out.
Video chat is rolling out in Instagram today. You'll find it in Instagram Direct, letting you conduct video calls with up to four people at a time. The feature works across Android and iPhone.
To begin a video chat, go into your Direct inbox and open a message thread. You'll then tap the camera icon in the right corner, and the friend that you're calling will be ringed. You can also minimize the video chat and perform other tasks in the Instagram app while on a call.
Instagram has steadily been adding more features to become your main app for communications, offering things like photo sharing, text messaging, and ephemeral messaging. Now video calling is being added in Instagram's latest attempt to be your go-to app for talking with your friends. It's definitely not the only video calling service available on mobile phones, but with the popularity of Instagram combined with its other features and cross-platform, Instagram's video calling feature could be adopted by a lot of people.
Video calling isn't the only new feature rolling out to Instagram users today. Also arriving are new camera effects designed by Ariana Grande, Buzzfeed, Liza Koshy, Baby Ariel and the NBA. You'll see these new effects if you follow any of those accounts. To use them, tap the face icon in the bottom right corner of the camera.
Instagram is adding Topic Channels to its Explore feature today, too. These channels include a For You section with a mix of posts tailored to your interests as well as channels for topics like Art, Sports, and Fashion, as well as a list of hashtags. You can remove a Topic Channel by pressing and holding on the channel and then selecting "Mute".
