Telegram has launched its first update of the year, delivering customers a massive release with more than ten new capabilities and improvements. Some are available only for those willing to pay for Telegram Premium, but most changes are not behind a paywall. Here is what's new.
- Profile Picture Maker lets you turn any sticker or animated emoji into a picture for your profile, group, or channel. Animated emojis in chats are only available for Telegram Premium subscribers, but you can use them for free for profile pictures.
- Improved Chat Translator extends Telegram's built-in multi-language capabilities. Telegram Premium subscribers can now translate entire chats, groups, and channels (in real-time).
- Improved emojis are now sorted by categories, making it easier to find the needed one when chatting or changing the status (animated emojis in statuses are only available for Telegram Premium users).
- Network Usage is a new settings section that lets you see how much data Telegram uses and what parts of the messenger consume the most of your traffic. You can check out separate stats for Wi-Fi and cellular data.
- Auto-Save Incoming Media saves incoming photos and videos directly to your camera roll. Users can fine-tune this setting and select media type, maximum size, and chats with media auto-save.
- Improved Media Permissions for group admins allow specifying what type of media participants can send. Telegram supports nine media types and even lets you create a media-only group where participants can only send photos, videos, voice messages, etc.
- Annual Premium Subscription allows saving up to 40% on the Telegram Premium subscription.
- Bots Improvements let developers add special buttons to help users select groups, channels, or people that meet predefined criteria.
- Apple ID and Google Account. Telegram now supports re-logging with Apple ID or Google Account without entering an SMS code. Note that this setting is not replacing the two-step verification password.
- New custom and animated emoji. No Telegram update comes without extra animated emojis or new custom packs.
The latest Telegram update is available on Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, and macOS. Note that the Microsoft Store version might get this release a little later. You can download Telegram from the official website.
