Earlier this year, Telegram began testing all-new versions of its mobile apps under the name Telegram X. These test versions were made available separately from the regular apps both on Android and iOS devices, and they were meant to push the boundaries in terms of speed and quality of animations. Though it wasn"t known at the time if these apps would replace the main offering, Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder Telegram, today announced that the main iOS app will now be receiving all the changes from the experimental version.
Durov used his personal channel in his own messaging service to announce that the official Telegram app for iOS will soon be replaced by the version that"s been in testing, though it"s currently unclear if that will mean the end of the experimental app. Telegram X for iOS is built on Swift, a new programming language that Apple released back in 2014 as a successor to Objective C in iOS apps. This will make Telegram the most popular messaging app to be written completely in Swift, says Durov, and it will bring improved speed, smoother performance, and less impact on the battery life of devices.
Of course, it"s not all perfect - despite a relatively long period of testing, some minor issues may still pop up with the new version. Durov says these should be fixed quickly, however, so it shouldn"t be much of a problem. The update should begin rolling out to general users in the next week or two, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.
As for Android, it"s still unclear when or if the official Telegram app will get the same treatment. Telegram X has been available for a while and gets updated relatively often, but it hasn"t always received every new feature added to the official one, such as the Passport feature introduced a couple of months ago. It looks like we might have to wait a while longer.