Last June, messaging platform Telegram unveiled its new subscription plan named Telegram Premium that offered users some extra features for a monthly subscription fee. It is not clear as to how the premium plan has taken off. But clearly in a bid to popularise it, the messaging platform, in its latest update, unveiled a couple of features for premium users including an endless menu of infinite reaction emojis, as well as new emoji statuses for profile.
To make choosing from thousands upon thousands of emoji easier, they can now attach up to 3 reactions per message. However, these changes to reactions are currently available in groups and 1-on-1 chats and Group admins can control whether custom reactions may be used in their groups or not.
Simultaneously, Telegram also announced all users now have access to dozens of reactions – including those that were previously only available with Telegram Premium, like 🤣 😐 🐳. "To accommodate all the new emoji, we've redesigned the reaction panel, making it expandable. The reactions you use frequently will show up at the top," the platform said in a blogpost.
Animated emojis for status
As part of the new update Telegram premium users also get to display animated emoji status next to their name. This custom status will replace the premium badge in the chat list, in their profile and in groups. Users can set 7 standard statuses that change the colour to match different Telegram themes or choose from an infinite number of custom emojis. Popular suggestions for working, sleeping, traveling and more will be shown at the top.
Users can tap the premium badge at the top of the chat list or go to the settings to change their status. They need to press and hold an emoji to set a status for a specific duration.
Telegram also said that users who log in and out frequently can now receive login codes through their email address or using Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google. Signing up or logging in to Telegram on iOS is now even more streamlined and easy along with the new interfaces and fun animations with which Android users are already familiar.
But are these good enough for a paid service?
Further, so far, all @usernames on Telegram have their own t.me/username links that make it easy for users to share their public profile, group or channel. Now, thanks to the new update, they can have a new unique link format username – username.t.me – to emphasize their name.
Telegram also said media and files that are actively downloading can be managed in the 'Downloads' tab of Search or by tapping the download icon that appears in the users chat list. They can now press and hold any items in the list to reorder them and change their priority – downloading the top file first.
Anyway, it is good that Telegram is trying its best to popularise its premium plan. But it is debatable whether the mere availability of more emojis are good enough to lure customers for a paid service.
