Friday, April 19, 2024

Telegram is borrowing some of WhatsApp’s most useful features

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Telegram beta v7.5 adds QR codes for groups and new widgets.

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What you need to know

  • The latest Telegram beta for Android adds group link QR codes.
  • It also introduces two new widgets and multiple options to report content to moderators.
  • The new features are likely to make their way to the stable channel sometime in the coming months.

Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp has been mired in controversy ever since it announced its new privacy policy changes earlier this year. Telegram, which is one of the best messaging apps out there, has seen a massive uptick in downloads as many WhatsApp users are abandoning the app over privacy concerns.

While Telegram is already feature-rich, it looks the app will soon gain a bunch of new features. As spotted by the folks at TestingCatalog, the latest Telegram beta for Android adds several useful features, which are likely to make their way to the stable channel in the near future.

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Telegram Beta v7.5 introduces QR codes for joining groups, which makes it possible to invite users to a group via QR codes. Once you share a QR code with Telegram users, they will be able to scan the code to join the group or channel. You can also now make invite links expire after a certain time period or after they have been used for a certain number of times. If you have the latest Telegram beta installed on your phone, you will be able to invite users by QR codes and manage invite links by heading over to Group Settings in the app.

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Additionally, the latest beta makes it easier to report content in groups or channels to Telegram moderators. Besides spam, you can now report posts for violence, child abuse, pornography, or “other.” Another new addition is the ability to report multiple messages at once.

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Telegram beta v7.5 also adds two widgets: a 2×2 version that shows up to four thumbnails and a larger 5×2 version with tiny previews of your preferred chats and channels. While the widgets are automatically populated with your most recent chats by default, you can select your own preferred chats when you add them to your homescreen.

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