Telegram, the popular instant messenger, has been updated in 2023, introducing new useful features for its users. The new update includes several improvements and additional features.
As reported , the holiday update introduced new opportunities for both channel owners and ordinary users. The same goes for the Premium subscription.
Here are the main changes that the developers introduced at the end of the year.
Channel type
Now channels can change not only the color of their messages, but also change the profile background, set an emoji status, theme and custom wallpaper that will be seen by everyone who opens the channel.
To be able to modify the appearance of channels, you need to receive charges from subscribers or from gifts. The channel level determines which appearance settings are available. Tiers also give channels the ability to post stories and include user reactions.
Messages in stories
Regular users can now share messages from channels in their own stories. This will add a copy of the message to your story that you can move, resize, and decorate. Anyone viewing the story can simply tap to open the message in the channel.
You can repost any type of message to your story—photos, files, and even voice and video messages. In the coming updates they plan to add new features, such as interactive polls.
Premium gifts
Now you can give Telegram Premium to several people at once. A new section, Gift Premium, has appeared in Settings, where you can select up to 10 users. If one of these users already has Premium, they can save the gift to redeem later or send to a friend.
Draw management
Channels that host giveaways can now include longer durations and additional prizes.
For increased transparency, organizers can enable the "Show Winners" option to announce winners' accounts. If this option is enabled, the lucky winners will be announced in a new message decorated with confetti.
It is noted that Telegram selects winners randomly, and gift codes from Telegram Premium are distributed automatically. Channel Administrators are responsible for delivering any additional prizes they wish to include in the drawing.
Other
Channel admins can now view reactions to their stories, and those who have shared their stories will be visible to both users and channels.
Also, photos from your gallery can be placed on top of stories - and now you can remove the background from images.
To add a photo to a story, open the sticker panel in stories and tap the photo icon. Then select a photo, tap > in the menu, and select Cut to remove the background. For this feature to work, you need to have iOS 17+ or Android 7+ with Google Play Services installed.
Let us remind you that at the beginning of December Telegram released a major update , which includes a number of useful system and external functions for users.
