New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS): Telegram on Wednesday announced a major update that brings a new Voice Chats feature to the instant messenger.

The new Voice Chats feature works a lot like voice channels on apps like Discord, and it offers users a persistent conference call that they can join or leave as wish.

"Any Telegram group can now become a voice chat room that is always on. Voice Chats run in parallel to the existing text and media-based communication, adding a live layer of ephemeral talk to the group. They can be used as virtual office spaces for teams or informal lounges for any community," the company said in a statement.

One will now see a 'Voice Chat' banner at the top of group chat when a call is active. It will show how many active participants are in the call and one just need to tap the 'Join' button to hop in. One will be muted by default but can unmute or hold the 'mic' button to talk.

Once joined the call, the user can navigate back to the app and explore other chats or send messages to the family.

Android users further benefit from a floating widget. They can navigate around the phone, with key calling features such as mute, speaker, and end call button being accessible to them at all times.

At the moment group, voice chats are focused on audio, but Telegram says it's adding video and screen sharing features in the coming weeks.

Along with the new Voice Chats feature, the latest update for Telegram brings a minor update for animated stickers which should improve loading times, support for SD card storage on Android devices.