Telegram is rolling out a new update featuring enhanced calls with a redesigned interface to conserve battery life. The update includes dynamic background changes based on call status, requiring fewer resources and ensuring improved performance, especially on older devices. Telegram plans further enhancements to connection and audio quality in 2024.
Updates extend to Telegram’s bot platform, enabling bots to react to messages, manage reactions, quotes, and links, and provide replies to other chats or topics. Bots can also retrieve information about giveaways and boosts in channels where they serve as admins.
Additionally, Telegram introduces the vaporize animation for both iOS and Android users, adding a playful touch to the app by displaying the effect when deleting a message.
These new features follow Telegram’s recent improvements to channels, emoji customization for reactions, and story stats, as it seeks to stay competitive with WhatsApp. Despite Telegram’s existing channels, innovations are crucial to its ongoing competition with WhatsApp, which introduced broadcast channels to all users in September 2023.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a broadcast channel on WhatsApp, revealed that WhatsApp’s channels feature has surpassed 500 million monthly active users. While WhatsApp boasts over 2 billion monthly active users, Telegram has garnered over 800 million monthly active users.