Instagram may soon get video and voice calling

Instagram started out as a simple photo-sharing app, and though it's come a long way since then, Facebook is always looking for ways to cram more features into it.

Now, it looks like Instagram might be rolling out a major update soon. TechCrunch reader Ishan Agarwal recently spent some time digging through Instagram's code and found references to several unreleased features for audio and video calling.

These references include icons and files for features such as "call," "video call," and "action call."

Obviously, the fact that these files can be found inside Instagram's APK (Android Application Package) does not necessarily mean the features will be released -- they could be just remnants of features which were abandoned at some point. It is, however, far more likely that Instagram does plan to add these features in the near future. Instagram declined to comment on the matter.

This is not the first time Instagram has been caught experimenting with video chat; in August last year, the company launched an experimental feature that let two users star in a joint live video that was available for anyone to see. But this was different from one-to-one video chat, which is typically private.

If Instagram does add video and voice chats, it would make it one step closer to Snapchat, which it quite mercilessly borrowed from in the past, with features such as Stories. In fact, besides the oddball UI, the only major feature that differentiates Snapchat from Instagram at this point is video calls.

Facebook's Messenger already has a video calling feature, which makes the feature somewhat superfluous in Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. On the other hand, Facebook hasn't shied from duplicating features in its social apps; in Mar. 2017, Facebook added Stories to its Facebook app; later that year, it added the ability to crosspost Instagram stories to Facebook as well.