Telegram, the privacy-oriented messaging service, has announced today that it has reached 400 million monthly users, up from 300 million a year ago. The service first launched back in 2013 and continues to add features and improvements on a frequent basis.
To go along with the celebration, the team made a few announcements. After introducing quizzes earlier this year, Telegram is now making it possible to add educational features to these quizzes. After a quiz question is answered, it"s now possible to display a message explaining the correct answer, with the goal of not only testing, but also spreading knowledge. You can test this out with a small quiz on the history of Telegram.
To take this further, Telegram is offering up to €400,000 to creators of original educational tests in light of the current conditions around the world. Tests can be created on any subject, difficulty level, and language, and media can be used in the questions at will, as long as intellectual property rights are respected. Submitted tests will be available in a searchable directory for people to find, and the Telegram team will pick the winners based on quality and popularity. Submissions for the first stage are open through May 15.
The Android app now has a redesigned attachment menu, so that all attachment types open in a pop-up layer rather than a full-screen experience, and switching between tabs now shows a short animation. Meanwhile, Telegram for macOS now shows shared media directly in the profile page, adds a new sidebar for chat folders, and features a new photo editor that allows for doodling before sending a picture.
However, the most interesting announcement today is for something that"s coming later. As more and more people need to use video chats to stay connected, Telegram is making it a goal to add secure group video calls to the app in 2020. The feature has been long-requested, and while it"s coming this year, it"s still unclear when. Regardless, this will undoubtedly be good news for fans of the app.
If you haven"t yet, you can download Telegram for your platform of choice from its website.