In what seems to be the final gift to its users for 2022, messaging platform Telegram’s 12th latest update has a range of new features designed to make 2023 a better year for chatting.
On the last Friday of 2022, Telegram announced the addition of “Hidden Media, Zero Storage Usage, New Drawing Tools, Profile Pictures for Your Contacts, and More”.
“Nobody will miss 2022, but this update offers some pleasant reasons to remember it,” said Telegram in a blog post.
Hidden media, supported by spoiler formatting, lets users hide the content that they’re sending so their contact can choose when and if they want to see it. It works to either hide info that you’d like to be a surprise or that could potentially be shocking or disturbing to sensitive receivers. Spoiler alerts could warn about the context of an image it is opened, among other uses.
“ You can also cover photos and videos with a shimmering layer that blurs the image. It will take your recipients one tap to break the spell and see the content,” says telegram.
New drawing and text tools also seem designed towards being more sensitive and avoiding the shock effects that can arise from unexpected messaging.
“There is a new blur tool to redact sensitive data (or photobombers) – and 5 high-precision ways to choose colors, including the Eyedropper tool,” says Telegram.
The app has redesigned its media editor to allow drawing tools to dynamically change width and automatically smooth lines.
Users can also change the size, font, and background when sending text, photos, and videos.
“Adding custom animated emoji to text on images is available for all users, even if they don’t have a Telegram Premium subscription,” it adds.
Who’s seeing what?
Telegram will let users change a contact’s profile picture if it disturbs them, or if they simply don’t like it. This change is only seen by the person making it.
“When editing your contacts, you can choose a picture for them – only you will see it on their profile,” says Telegram.
You can also suggest the profile picture to them. I’ll take two taps for them to add on their end for all to see.
Another addition to the latest update is the ability to have different Public Profile Pictures for different people.
“If you only allow certain users to see your profile photos, you can set a public picture for everyone else,” it says.
Read More: Telegram upgrades interface, enables anonymous sign-ins
There’s more
Telegram has finally added the ability to generate QR codes if you don’t have a phone number but want to be on the platform. Users can also be able to save everything that comes via the platform to the cloud so they don’t use the storage on their devices. Plus, the app has tightened settings on groups to give admins more power and weed out spammers.
“Admins of groups with 100+ members can now choose to hide the member list. This way, if people don’t send messages to the group, only its admins will know they were there,” says Telegram.
Telegram also added the ability to use more emojis to react to posts, something that WhatsApp has done for some time now. A bit late, but much needed.
Source: Telegram
