Telegram has announced its latest feature update for the month, this time with 15 new features. According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durove, the instant messaging app recently surpassed 900 million monthly active users, half of whom open Telegram every day.
The "My Profile" section complements the Settings page and allows you to view your Telegram profile like any other user and make quick changes to it. If you saved your birthday, people who visited your profile on your birthday will see animated confetti and balloons.
Telegram, on the other hand, reminds you of other people's birthdays by displaying banners in your chat list. Note that your birthday is only visible to your contacts by default, but you can change that in your privacy settings.
A new "Channels" tab has been added to the search screen, where the app displays recommended channels with similar themes. If you're an admin, you can feature your channel above your profile bio and provide detailed previews of your latest posts.
Channel admins can manage reactions by choosing the maximum number of reaction types for posts. Telegram now allows you to link your favorite username to your account or channel. The username will appear on your profile page with more details.
When sharing a live location with friends or group chats, you can now add more time to an existing shared location, or even extend it indefinitely. Reactions notifications for Telegram Stories are now available, and a new toggle button gives you control over who can react to your stories. Telegram's website instant view is now available on its desktop app, which makes it possible to open a web page where "all media is displayed directly in your app with zero load time".
Telegram has added a toggle button for premium users to unhide ads in the app. According to the company, the feature is useful for businesses and users who want to see how their ads will appear in the app.
In addition, premium users can also include animations and custom emojis in their polls. They can watch "Stories" anonymously without being detected. This feature allows them to "hide recent browsing and continue to hide it for the next 25 minutes." To activate the feature, long-press on the story in the feed and select "View Anonymously" from the list.
You can check out Telegram's official blog post to learn more about these features.