How to Use Telegram Video Calls on iPad and Tablets
On a tablet, Telegram does not simply enlarge the phone layout. Turn the device sideways during a call and the participant list moves to its own column beside the video instead of covering it.
The tablet is the most comfortable device for a long call, and it is the one most people never think to use for one.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Use the landscape layout properly during a group call.
- check_circle Put one presenter on the main view and keep the rest visible.
- check_circle Take notes in another app while the call keeps running.
- check_circle Avoid the two things that spoil a long call on a tablet.
Rotating does not interrupt anything. The layout reflows and the call carries on.
tablet Width is the whole advantage
A phone in a group call has one problem it cannot solve: there is only room for the video, so anything else — the participant list, the chat, your notes — has to cover it. A tablet in landscape has room for two things at once, and Telegram uses that rather than centring the phone layout in the middle of a larger screen.
The result is that you can watch the presentation and see who is speaking, or watch the presentation and write, without either hiding the other. For a call you are in for an hour, that is not a cosmetic difference.
A tablet is also the device you can prop up and leave alone. No holding it, a bigger battery than a phone, and a camera at a height that does not look up your nose.
Four ways to sit in a call on a tablet
Two are about the layout, one is about doing something else, and one is about not running out of battery.
screen_rotation Turn it sideways
present_to_all Someone is sharing a screen
edit_note Writing while listening
battery_alert Two hours in
A tablet is the best device for being in a call, and a poor one for running it. Host from a computer.
settings Setting up
- Join the call from the bar at the top of the group Same as anywhere else.
- Unlock rotation and turn the tablet sideways The two-column layout is the point.
- Pin whoever is presenting Double-tap or use their tile's menu.
- Minimise to a floating window if you need another app The call keeps running.
- Turn your camera off when you are not talking It saves most of the battery and all of the self-consciousness.
- Use headphones and prop the tablet up The two fixes for the two things people complain about.
This page is one call on a large screen. The curriculum step is the whole tablet build: the multi-column chat layout, split-screen working, what changes on a folding device, and stylus input.
Tablet video calls at a glance
The landscape two-column layout, pinning a presenter, floating the call over another app, and battery and audio habits, on one page. Tap to open it at full resolution.
![[Telegram 07] Installing Telegram on Tablets & Foldables: Multi-Column UI, Split-Screen & Stylus Input](https://tgway.com/images/guides/guide_10820.webp)
