The telegram team has released an update to the popular messenger. This is the twelfth and last major Telegram update in 2020, the next batch of innovations will be presented by the developers in 2021. Telegram version 7.3 brings group voice chats for all users, improved editing capabilities, new animated emojis, and so on.
Voice chat is described by the developers as a new type of audio conferencing that group members can connect to at any time. You can start voice chat in parallel with regular correspondence in any group – text and voice will complement each other in a single space.
Telegram new update brings voice chats and more features
Unlike regular calls, participants do not have to agree on a time. The voice chat is open on an ongoing basis. In the group, you can immediately see which of the participants is currently speaking in the chat. For Android users, the display mode is available on top of other applications. In this mode, you can control the microphone and see who is talking in the chat; even if the Telegram application is minimized.
Another innovation for Android is that SD card storage is now supported. For iOS users, it became possible to read messages using the Siri voice assistant.
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In addition, for Android, it became possible to edit sent photos without re-uploading, for example, adding a picture, text or stickers to a photo in the media editor. IOS users can quickly edit and send back the resulting photo, without having to save it and re-upload it. Each of these features was previously only available on one of the platforms, but now iOS and Android users have the same editing capabilities.
The developers did not ignore such a beloved area as animated emojis – almost a couple of dozen new animated emojis were added, as well as several animated emoji with sound.
Today Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, also announced that next year the messenger monetization will begin; some new functions will be paid, but the current services will continue to be available for free.
Telegram exceeds 500 million downloads in the Play Store
Back in May, Telegram exceeded 500 million downloads from the Google Play Store in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the app is not pre-installed on devices like other messaging applications, this is an incredible step for Telegram.
However, the app still has a long way to go to catch up with its competitors. WhatsApp, which belongs to Facebook, recently reached five billion downloads, and Google Messages reached one billion downloads.
Telegram has been able to successfully compete with other applications because it has end-to-end encryption. There is an increasing number of users are becoming aware of this due to the growing privacy concerns.
