Summary
- Telegram’s recent update focuses on personalized experiences, with animated effects in 1-on-1 chats.
- Captions above media, redesigned action menu for phone numbers, and enhanced hashtag search functionality are some other features for the popular messaging app.
- Telegram also got a Collapsible Quotes feature, improving the compactness of long quotes for users.
When it comes to selecting a messaging app for both Android and iOS platforms, Telegram is an app that instantly comes to mind. The app has established itself as a worthy rival of WhatsApp in recent years while doubling down on its privacy-focused features to challenge Signal. In late April, Telegram got a major update, adding features such as personalized channel recommendations, the ability to view stories anonymously, and more control options for group admins.
How to translate Telegram messages
It’s getting easier to chat with your friends from across the world
The recent additions to Telegram were mainly focused on improving the user experience and enhancing the messaging functionality. Meanwhile, the latest update that’s just rolled out to the app is about to bring more personalized experiences to users.
Telegram now offers a unique feature in 1-on-1 chats-animated effects that play when the recipient opens the message. To add these effects, simply hold the Send arrow and select an emoji that best suits your message. Free Telegram accounts have access to six animated effects, while Telegram Premium users can enjoy hundreds more, including effects from Premium stickers.
We’ve already seen a similar feature in Google Messages, where users can send animated emojis with their messages. The feature became frustrating in the Messages app, and Google had to add a toggle to let users turn it off. It remains to be seen how it will be implemented in Telegram.
Telegram now lets you put captions above the media
Traditionally, Telegram and other messaging apps put captions beneath the media so they would be easy to read and notice. However, Telegram now allows users to send media with captions attached above. To change the placement of captions in Telegram, you need to first select your media, write the caption, press and hold the Send arrow, and select “Move Caption Up” to change the caption position. Of course, you can later move the captions up and down by editing the media files.
Telegram has redesigned the action menu for phone numbers. Users now get an option to send a message directly to the phone number they get in chat, while there are other options, such as starting a call or adding the number as a contact with one tap.
Searching for hashtags on Telegram has also got a big boost. Now, once you tap on a hashtag in a group or chat, Telegram shows search results from big public channels to let you find the latest updates about that event. This enhanced search functionality can help you stay updated on your interests more effectively. You can also set to see results as a scrollable feed of posts or as a compact list while browsing the Public Posts tab, giving you more control over how you consume information.
Another feature that landed on Telegram is collapsible quotes. The app got the quotes feature last year, but the latest update can make long quotes more compact by hiding fragments of text inside collapsible quote blocks. To do this, you should tap the collapse button in the input field and add quote formatting.
The update containing these features began rolling out last week. You can now check Google Play to see if the update has been rolled out to your device.
