Telegram is an encrypted messenger which is essentially similar in look and functionality to Whatsapp. With Telegram group chats, you can include polls, mention other users, view group stats, all in a group of up to 200,000 people. Now, you can also have a voice chat.
Any Telegram group can be a voice chat room, with the voice functionality being always on. You can join and leave the voice chat at anytime, maybe as a good function for coworkers to discuss something really quickly.
Voice chats will always have a bar at the top to show who is actively in it, with the option to join immediately. On all platforms, once you join the chat, you can continue to move around Telegram with the quick ability to mute and unmute. On Android, this functionality is further expanded with a floating button that can follow you anywhere throughout your phone.
With this new update, animated stickers will load faster, as well as showing an outline of the stickers available while it loads. There’s also:
- Ability to move data to SD Card on Android
- New Android app animations
- Ability for Siri to read your messages out loud
- Better editing capabilities – equal on both iOS and Android
- Even more animated emoji
In addition to all of this, Telegram founder Pavel Durov has announced plans to monetize Telegram in the most privacy-friendly way possible, including paid features for businesses or power users as well as an ad platform that is more user friendly. Any revenue resulting from this move will also be paid forward where possible, such as paying artists for their stickers.