Round video messages are not only a thing you send to a friend. They appear in channel posts, under comments, as replies in groups, and in each of those places they behave slightly differently from an ordinary video.
This page is the format itself — what it is good at, where it turns up, and how to receive one without giving it more of your attention than you meant to.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Say when the round format beats an ordinary video and when it does not.
- check_circle Use them in channels and comments, where most people never think to.
- check_circle Watch one without stopping what you were doing.
- check_circle Deal with one when you cannot watch it at all.
Playback starts on tap and the circle follows you out of the chat — the format is designed to be watched while doing something else.
videocam A format with opinions
Everything about a round video message is fixed: a circle, a minute at most, no caption, no cropping, no editing afterwards. Those are not missing features — they are what stops it becoming an ordinary video with extra steps.
What it buys is immediacy. There is no composing, no framing decision and no send screen; you hold, speak and let go. That makes it the closest thing in the app to speaking to somebody, and the reason it works better for tone than for information.
It also appears in places people do not expect. A channel can post one, which reads far more personally than a written announcement. A comment or a group reply can be one, which is often quicker than typing an explanation.
Where the round format earns its place
Four contexts. In two of them it is better than the alternatives and in two it is worse.
campaign A channel post
forum Answering somebody in a group
text_fields When there is a fact in it
visibility One has arrived and you are busy
Use it for a face, not for a fact. Everything else on this page follows from that.
settings Sending and watching
- Tap the microphone to turn it into a camera Then hold to record; the mode is remembered for that chat.
- Slide up to lock So you can move the phone or use both hands.
- Tap the circle while recording to flip the camera Start with your face and show the thing without stopping.
- Slide left to cancel Nothing is sent and nothing is kept.
- When receiving, use the speed control And let the bubble float while you do something else.
This page is a format with no choices in it. The curriculum step is the opposite: choosing the shape, trimming before sending, and the framing decisions that exist when the format is not fixed for you.
At a glance
- 1When round works
For faces and quick reactions, not for facts.
- 2Channels too
Round videos work in channels and comments.
- 3Can't watch?
Save it to Saved Messages and watch later.
Updated
