Last year we launched a Bot Platform for Telegram. Free, powerful, and open, it was an instant hit among users and developers. Today we are aiming to push the boundaries further by launching a bot-powered Gaming Platform on Telegram. That’s right: you can now use bots to play games in your chats, complete with graphics and sound.
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Ready to Play
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Hundreds of games are headed your way, but about 30 are ready to be played on Telegram now, most of them published by @gamee. You can start a game by interacting with their bot directly, or by invoking it from any of your chats. To do that, try typing “@gamee “ in a group and choose a game to start playing with your friends:
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Select a game
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If you spot a great game on Telegram, you can challenge your friends from other chats by sharing the game with them.
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Challenge your friends
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Better with Friends
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The best part of the Telegram Gaming Platform is the competition across all your existing chats. We save high scores for every game played in every chat, and you can instantly check out how you and your friends are doing against each other. Every time there’s a new leader in the game, other playing members of the chat are notified that they need to step it up.
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In-game high scores
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New high score in chat
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Easy to Build
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Building games for Telegram is easy (check out the API). Here’s MathBattle, a game that took our developer only 3 hours to build. You can launch it from any chat by typing @gamebot and choosing Math Battle:
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This is Corsairs, a demo game that took its dev just 5 hours to build and set up. That includes sound, graphics and animations:
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While these demos look basic, Telegram games can be anything from simple arcades and puzzles to multiplayer 3D-shooters and real-time strategy games. The underlying technology is HTML5, so games are loaded on-demand as needed, just like ordinary webpages. Games will work on iPhones 4 and newer and on Android 4.4 devices and newer. Note that your friends will need Telegram 3.13 or higher to play.
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If you are a developer, take a look at our Introduction to Games. Also, feel free to subscribe to our official @BotNews channel to stay up to date on platform news.
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No Added Calories
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We know you love Telegram because it’s lean and efficient. This is why the new Gaming Platform requires 0 bytes of disk space and won’t add a single byte to the size of our apps. The only thing we're adding today is countless more fun moments in your chats.
In addition to numerous great features in today's update, we’re happy to introduce a new way to move your existing group chats to Telegram — invite links for admins.
And yet, if you‘ve ever tried moving your existing group chats from other apps to Telegram, you know it was not easy. There was simply too much work to do and too much friction — you had to collect everyone’s usernames or phone numbers and add them to your group one by one. We're glad to announce that these days are over.
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Invite Links
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With invite links for groups, all you have to do is send a link to your existing group chat in any messaging service that your friends might still be using. As soon as they get Telegram, they can instantly join your Telegram group just by following that link.
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Where do you get the link? Once you've created a group on Telegram, head to the "Add participant…” section and tap “Invite to Group via Link”. Easy!
We first added support for payments in 2017. Payment bots allowed users to securely pay for goods and services without leaving the app – anything from ordering a pizza to hailing a taxi, to replacing winter tires when you're tired of winter.
Buyers can add a tip whenever they make a purchase to show some extra love to their favorite artists, stores, or delivery drivers. Payments can now be made from any app – including desktop apps.
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This is a free and privacy-conscious platform – Telegram takes no commission, and stores no payment information. Credit card information is sent directly to the payment provider and shipping information is shared with the merchant so they can send you your goods.
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We've created a demo channel with the most exotic imaginary goods and services no money can buy, so you can test how this works without spending a penny.
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Any merchant can start using the Payments API without getting additional approvals from Telegram. Developers interested in integrating payments can find all the details in the Payments Manual.
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Scheduled Voice Chats
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Voice Chats give users the option to catch up with a few friends or tune in to massive broadcasts with millions of listeners.
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Admins of groups and channels can now schedule a Voice Chat for a particular date and time instead of creating one right away. This gives community members time to let their friends know and get the popcorn ready.
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Users will see a colorful countdown at the top of the chat. Those too busy to watch the countdown can opt to receive a notification when the voice chat starts.
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Admins can schedule a Voice Chat from their Group or Channel's profile page. On Android, tap ⋮ > Start Voice chat > Schedule Voice Chat. On iOS, tap the Voice Chat button and select Schedule Voice Chat.
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Don't worry, the chat won't start automatically when the countdown reaches zero – only when an admin presses the Start Now button.
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Mini Profiles for Voice Chats
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You can now expand profile pictures and bios to get a better idea of who you're chatting with – without leaving the voice chat window.
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You can also change your profile picture and edit your bio without leaving the chat – like changing from Shirley to Grognak the Barbarian as you meet for Dungeons and Dragons.
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New Web Versions
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Telegram's first Web Version was launched in 2014. Ever since, our pet demon of internal competition kept whispering: 'Why have one web version when you can have two?'
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Today we're adding two new, fully-featured Telegram web apps – both supporting animated stickers, dark mode, chat folders and more.
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With the new web versions you can get instant access to your chats on any device – desktop or mobile. These apps are incredibly efficient, requiring only a 400 KB download (that's like two photos of a medium-sized cat) and no installation.
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Take them for a test drive, and see which one you like best:
Like other Telegram apps, all our web versions are standalone: once you've logged in, you do not need to keep your phone nearby or connected to the internet.
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If you find an issue with either of the new apps, let us know using our Suggestions Platform.
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Direct Download for Android
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In case you're more of an app person, you can now also download Telegram for Android directly from telegram.org. Apps installed from the website will automatically update to the latest version. You are likely to get new versions several days or weeks faster this way because you won't have to wait for updates to be reviewed by the store.
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Telegram supports reproducible builds, so you can always be sure that the app you have on your device was built from the exact same open source code that is published on GitHub.
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Pinch to zoom
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Photos and videos can now be expanded directly from the chat – simply pinch to zoom in right away, without tapping to open the media viewer.
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Improved Video Player
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When watching a video from the media player on iOS, press and hold the + or - 15s buttons to fast-forward and rewind. On Android press and hold on the right or left side of the screen to do the same, and double-tap to jump 10 seconds in either direction.
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Tips and New Android Animations
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The Android app gets smoother and more dynamic with each update – check out the new animations when opening the side menu or swiping back to the chat list from a chat.
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To learn more about what Telegram can do, tap Telegram Features from the side menu or visit the @TelegramTips channel.
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Telegram Jobs
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That's it for today. We are already working on the next update — and if you just thought 'Wow, that's the spirit!' rather than 'Poor people, have some rest', check out our list of open positions.
This January 2015 post has some outdated info. Check out our custom sticker sets announcement instead.
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At Telegram, we try to reinvent the ordinary tools. The concept of stickers is not an exception. We've always felt that stickers in messaging apps sucked, because they typically provided a limited and paid experience in a walled-garden environment.
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Today's update to Telegram for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Desktops introduces a new kind of stickers – a free platform for artists and users willing to share emotions, built using an efficient and open technology.
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Telegram stickers are grouped around emotions, not characters. They do not clutter the interface, but are shown only when they are relevant – you will see a list of emotionally corresponding stickers whenever you start a message with an emoji. All our stickers are and will be completely free, and you can always create and share your own stickers.
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You can find the initial 14 stickers in this post. And dozens more will soon follow.
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Sharing your own stickers
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To share stickers of your own, just save your sticker in WebP format with a transparency layer and send it to your friend as a document in Telegram (e.g. via Telegram Desktop). It will be shown as a sticker. Thanks to the WebP file format, Stickers on Telegram are displayed 5x faster compared to the other formats usually used in messaging apps.
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Creating new stickers
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Telegram is focused on people who like to create content. If you want your sticker to be seen by all Telegram users in the context menu corresponding to one of the emojis, you are welcome to submit it via a chat with our Stickers bot – telegram.me/stickers.
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Freelancers can also sell us their work – we normally pay $100 for the exclusive use of a 512x512px sticker. Note that we accept only high-quality stickers that meet our criteria. Please study the stickers that we have designed in-house for the launch.
Happy winter holidays, everyone! To reinforce the festive mood, we‘re updating Telegram for the second time this December, adding features you’ve been asking for.
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With version 4.7 for iOS, you can change what your Telegram looks like in the new Appearance settings. Choose between four different themes, including a minimalistic one (“Day”) and two dark themes (“Night” and “Night Blue”). The “Day” theme also allows you to pick an accent color for the entire app, like pink or purple.
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Multiple accounts
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The Android app already supported multiple themes, so it had to go further with 4.7 by supporting multiple accounts. You can add up to three accounts with different phone numbers to your Telegram app, and then quickly switch between them from the side menu. Notifications will keep coming from all accounts, unless you change this in the Notification settings.
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Quick replies
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Telegram now supports quick replies on both mobile platforms. To use them, just swipe left on any message in a chat.
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In case you missed it…
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Telegram 4.6, released earlier this month, introduced new granular settings for auto-downloading media, better link previews, albums in Secret Chats, improved security, and embeds for messages from public groups and channels. Here’s what an embed of a Telegram message looks like when included on a web page:
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To get the HTML-code for embedding a message, open its t.me link in a web browser:
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Have a happy new year – and stay tuned for the product updates we are going to announce in January.
Verifiable Builds, New Theme Editor, Send When Online and So Much More
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Telegram is the only mass market messaging app with open source apps. Since 2013, this not only allows independent researchers to verify the integrity of end-to-end encryption, but also helps look for vulnerabilities (or backdoors).
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As of this update, Telegram becomes the first messaging app to allow you to independently verify that the code on GitHub is the exact same code that was used to build the app you downloaded from App Store or Google Play. Security researchers are welcome to check out our Guide to Reproducible Builds for iOS and Android.
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But we know security isn't the only reason you love Telegram – so we've also added dozens of new features and improvements. Gather round, this blog post is a long one.
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Theme Editor 2.0
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Using the new theme editor in Chat Settings (or Appearance Settings on iOS), you can quickly tweak the style of elements in Telegram chats and add awesome gradients to both your messages and your background. Switch between tabs (Main Color, Background, My Messages) to see how deep this rabbit hole goes:
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Once you're done editing, you can quickly share the result of your work with friends so that they can continue tuning your theme.
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By the way, this update includes dozens of new cool patterns you can apply to your background. Our favorites are the Math and Parisian motifs, but there's also one we made especially for New Year's Eve.
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There are new patterns with cats as well. And space. And cats in space. No time to explain, go check them all out.
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New Predefined Colors
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Not in a creative mood? Not a problem – we've added a boatload of new predefined color schemes for Telegram's default themes. The theme of your dreams may be just a few taps away, try the new options under Classic, Night, Day, etc.
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Send When Online
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Some things are best served fresh, like sushi and today's hot memes. For messages that have to be delivered at the perfect moment, we've added the option to schedule messages to be sent when your recipient comes online.
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Now you can slide your message in with the morning post – or time a funky duck sticker for the exact moment a meeting gets boring.
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Note that this option is only available if you are allowed to see your recipient's online status. You can still sneak out of bed without anyone noticing.
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Improved Venue Sharing
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Location sharing has been updated to make finding venues easier. You can now tap a place directly on the map to select it, rather than scrolling through a list of all the power converter purveyors in Tosche Station.
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View Search Results as a List
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The Search function allows you to easily jump between messages containing a keyword – or sent by a particular person, or even from a certain day. Tapping the bottom bar will now switch to list view in case you want to see all the results on one page.
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On iOS, you can also select several messages without leaving Search Mode. (Before you ask, this feature was already available on Android.)
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Podcast and Audiobook Support
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You've always been able to share files of up to 1,5 GB, but podcasts and audiobooks now get special treatment. Telegram apps will remember your last position when resuming playback of audio files longer than 20 minutes.
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If you'd like to make podcasts get to the point a little faster, try the new 2x button (which you already know from voice messages). We've eliminated voice chipmunking in 96.8% of cases.
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On iOS, you can skip forward and back with high-precision scrubbing: just hold on the progress bar and slide your finger down, then left or right.
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New On Android
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Switch to Night Mode Faster
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Telegram has shielded your eyes in dark places with Night Modesince 2017. The power of the sun and moon are now even easier to control, with the Night Mode Switch at the top of the menu. Tap the moon icon and watch the sun rise and fall at your whim.
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Maps have also joined the dark side in Night Mode, so you don't accidentally burn yourself while browsing locations late in the evening. Ve do as the count vills. (•,..,•)
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On iOS, dark maps turn on and off with the system dark mode. Speaking of which, we recently added the option to sync your Telegram theme with system dark mode on iOS 13.
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Sleek New Animations
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We've peppered the interface with little ripple animations when you press on things to help you get more joy out of buttons. Snappy new animations await when jumping between messages in a chat, opening global search or pulling out the archive folder. To get a closer look at a user's profile picture, drag down on their profile page.
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Select Parts of Messages
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Following in the footsteps of the iOS app, Android now also lets you select a portion of the message text to copy or share, instead of only the full text. Sometimes you only want a slice, rather than the whole pie.
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Multi-sharing from Other Apps
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Sharing is caring, so we've made it easier than ever to share content from other apps with your friends. You can now tap and hold to select multiple recipients – and even add a comment in case your savage subtweet needs some context.
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Mark Archive as Read
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A cluttered chat list reflects a cluttered mind. Clear up those extra unread message counters in your archive by tapping and holding the archive folder and marking them all read. (Not to be confused with marking it red, that's a job for themes.)
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And Other Android Goodies
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You can сhoose video quality in a more intuitive way when sending videos.
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Sending contacts now uses a simple, card-style interface that won't take up your whole screen (unless you pull up to expand it).
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When you're done listening to a voice message with your phone up to your ear, Telegram automatically records a reply - but now you can disable that by turning off Raise to Speak in your Chat Settings.
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We found 31 other shiny bugs to fix and improvements to make on Android, just in time for your Telegram advent calendar. See if you can find them all.
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New on iOS
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Text Size, All the Way
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You've been able to adjust the size of message text on Telegram from the beginning, but now you can scale the font size throughout the app. I'm not sure if Grandma reads this blog regularly, so you may have to tell her yourself.
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Choose Your Browser
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External browsers are now supported for opening links – you can select your preferred app in Settings > Data and Storage > Other.
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Share Sheet Settings
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Your most popular Telegram chats were recently added to the iOS Share Sheet. In case you'd like to control what can (or can't ) appear there, you can use the new toggles under Settings > Data and Storage > Other > Share Sheet.
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Switch Accounts Faster
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Superman has had a hard time finding phone booths lately, so we added a way to swiftly switch accounts right from your home screen on iOS 13. Simply hold down on the app icon any time you need to change costumes.
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Remember that you can use Telegram with multiple accounts, switching between up to 3 phone numbers without logging out.
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Storage Usage At a Glance
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The Storage Usage page has been redesigned to more quickly find the settings you're looking for. It also shows your device's storage status, and how much space all those other pesky apps are using compared to Telegram. Bigger, after all, is not always better.
Selecting multiple messages in a group or channel gives you the option to clear the chat's cache. Like we said, no need to store what you don't need – but also no need to delete actual messages. Just keep things in the cloud, like the cool kids.
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Check out Settings > Data and Storage > Storage Usage for more options.
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Member Lists: The Shorter Scrolls
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In case you're looking to leave some large groups and start fresh in the new decade, long member lists will collapse, so you can get to the 'Leave Group' button without scrolling.
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By the way, swiping on a group or channel from the chat list and selecting 'Delete' is still the shortest way out, but now there is more than one way to leave the New Year's party early.
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And that's all for today. Happy New Year!
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2020 is going to be fun. Enjoy winter while we get back to our little warm R&D bunker deep deep underground.
The online theme editor allows you to create and modify your existing cloud themes for every platform. Any changes will appear in the apps immediately after you save them.
Log in here to modify your cloud themes on the fly. Please enter your phone number in the international format and we will send a confirmation message to your account via Telegram.
The online theme editor allows you to create and modify your existing cloud themes for every platform. Any changes will appear in the apps immediately after you save them.
Log in here to modify your cloud themes on the fly. Please enter your phone number in the international format and we will send a confirmation message to your account via Telegram.
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) appear there, you can use the new toggles under Settings > Data and Storage > Other > Share Sheet.
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