Telegram in June announced it has passed 700 million active users and introduced Telegram Premium which lets anyone support the development of Telegram and get access to exclusive additional features.
The company has now introduced the Telegram Emoji Platform, animated emoji in messages and captions, custom emoji packs, the ability to give Telegram Premium as a gift, a new privacy setting for voice messages – and more.
Telegram’s open emoji platform allows users to upload custom packs with unique art styles and characters for Telegram Premium users. The new animated emoji can be included in the text of messages and media captions, adding even more emotion to your chats. Premium users get access to 10 initial custom emoji packs, containing more than 500 Premium emoji – and countless more coming.
When you start typing a message, the Sticker button will turn into an Emoji button that opens the redesigned emoji panel – so you can quickly browse your emoji packs or add new ones.
All users – Premium or not – can see any animated emoji. Everyone can also use all custom emojis for free in their Saved Messages chat to try them out – or to add an extra flair to notes and reminders.
All packs are included in emoji suggestions – type a shortcut like smile or: lol and you’ll see results from your entire library. Typing a static emoji will also show suggestions from all of your animated packs.
Many popular custom emojis are also interactive when sent in 1-on-1 chats – any user can tap to play synchronized, full-screen effects.
The sticker panel has a new look on iOS, with separate tabs for stickers, GIFs and emoji – just like on the Android, desktop and web apps. On all apps, the GIF section now has thousands of high-quality GIFs from your favorite movies and shows –.
Premium users have a new setting that allows them to control who can send them voice and video messages – like Everyone, My Contacts, or Nobody. Like other privacy settings, this also supports exceptions, so you can choose specific people or groups of users that can Never or Always send you voice messages. If someone on your Always list chooses a bad time for verbal communication, you can convert their voice message to text. To modify this setting, go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Voice Messages.
For the Gifting Telegram Premium, if you already have Telegram Premium, you can now share the experience with friends, family and coworkers by sending them a prepaid subscription for 3, 6 or 12 months – at a discount. Open a user’s profile and tap or choose Gift Premium. The gifted subscription will instantly arrive as a special message in your chat with that user – containing an animated gift box. If you’re using one of Telegram’s desktop apps or downloaded your Android app directly from the website, you can use bots like @PremiumBot to subscribe to Telegram Premium or give it as a gift.
The FAQ now has a dedicated section for Telegram Premium – where you can learn how to manage your subscription, what features it offers and why it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.
