What do the emojis that appear in Telegram video calls mean?

Have you ever made a video call with Telegram? If so, you have surely noticed that several emojis appear at the top of the screen. They are completely random emojis and it doesn’t seem like they can be tapped or interacted with . What do they mean? And most importantly, what are they for?

Telegram video call emojis are there to ensure the privacy of your conversations

Normally we all associate emoticons with those small drawings that we use to express simple emotions. There are people who are even able to communicate only through these types of images.

When it comes to Telegram video calls, these emojis have a very different use. They basically serve to verify the security of the conversation. If the 4 emojis that appear at the top of the screen are the same as those of your interlocutor, that means that the call is end-to-end encrypted .

Therefore, if you are making a call in which you are going to share sensitive information or private data, and you want to make sure that there are no leaks or “outside ears” listening in, ask your interlocutor to list the emojis that appear on their screen.

What if the emojis don’t match?

If the emojis are the same as those that appear on yours , it means that the call is end-to-end encrypted and 100% secure. If any of the emojis do not match, this is an indication that the call could not be encrypted, and therefore, it could be intercepted by an agent unrelated to the conversation.

Normally this occurs because there has been some failure in the cryptographic process or in the key exchange. It doesn’t mean that someone is necessarily spying on us. In any case, for security the best we can do is hang up and reestablish communication until the emojis on both sides are the same.

The truth is that it is appreciated that Telegram includes this type of verification systems, since most apps, such as WhatsApp and many others, although they also offer encryption on calls, there is no way to check if it is working or not.

These security emojis have been in operation since 2017, and appear in both voice and video calls. Its goal is to prevent the user from Man-in-the-Middle attacks, so whenever you make a call on Telegram, be sure to check the security emojis.