2024-12-04 17:28:07
Today, we’re bringing exciting news for content creators and mini app developers on Telegram. Creators now have a simple way to monetize their efforts (and earn Stars!), while mini app developers gain a powerful tool to attract new users. In addition, Telegram users can now find stickers with AI and create collages with photos and videos in their stories.
With this update, Telegram introduces Affiliate Programs for mini apps. These campaigns offer the first completely transparent promotions in the history of social media for both influencers and their audiences — with clear publicly available terms that anyone can verify.
All Telegram users and channels can now earn Stars by joining Affiliate Programs launched by developers. Simply head to your Star Balance and explore the list of available programs. Choose one, grab your unique referral link, and start sharing it.
You can sort programs in the list by their commission rate or their duration.
When someone uses your referral link to access a mini app and makes purchases there with Telegram Stars, you’ll earn a commission — a percentage of the Stars from their transactions.
Purchases from your referrals will grant you commissions for the entire duration of the Affiliate Program stated in its terms — even if the program is discontinued early.
Commissions will appear in your balance in real time once a user you referred to a mini app makes a transaction there. The affiliate platform is a simple and reliable way to earn Telegram Stars — which you can use to purchase products or subscriptions in apps, send gifts to friends, unlock media in channels and more.
More details on Affiliate Programs can be found in this guide.
Any mini app or bot developer on Telegram can start their own Affiliate Program, and specify what percent of their future revenue they are willing to share with those who refer users. They can even decide how long they want to share revenue after a user starts interacting with their mini app.
Setting up an Affiliate Program is seamless — just a few taps, and you’re ready to organically grow your user base more affordably and efficiently than traditional marketing campaigns.
Finding the perfect sticker just got easier! Thanks to a custom AI model, the sticker panel now supports complex searches with multiple keywords. For example, try typing cat drinking coffee and see results instantly appear from the over 40,000 stickers in Telegram's official packs.
Even better, this feature works in dozens of languages, making it easier than ever to express yourself. Premium users can also use this improved search in the emoji section.
You can also get instant suggestions for stickers and emoji right from the message bar and use emoji shortcuts like
:heartto quickly input emoji with text.
Telegram Stories just got a creative boost with collages. You can now combine up to 6 photos or videos in various layouts. Add media directly from your gallery or camera, and fill each tile to craft the perfect composition.
Want to tweak your collage? Change layouts easily using the options at the top of the screen, drag tiles to rearrange them or tap a tile to delete it, retake a photo, or adjust the volume of a video.
Captions for media in chats can now be effortlessly moved to the top by tapping the new 'Move Caption Up' button in the media editor.
Yes, this was already possible via the attachment menu, but now it's even more user-friendly!
That's all for today's update, we'll be back soon with a collage of new features.
December 4, 2024,
The Telegram Team
2024-11-17 19:41:02
Today we launch the largest update in the history of mini apps. They get a full-screen mode, subscription plans, home screen shortcuts, sending gifts, sharing media, creating documents, access to geolocation, motion tracker, setting emoji statuses — and more.
Mini apps are now able to use the entire screen in portrait or landscape orientation — allowing apps to host more game genres with expanded gestures and interfaces.
Mini apps are able to receive information about the motion of your device to add unique controls to games or build immersive VR experiences.
Developers can lock the screen orientation to ensure there is no unnecessary rotation if their app uses device motion for controls.
You can now place direct shortcuts to specific mini apps on the home screen of your device — accessing your favorite games and services in one tap.
You can now share your location with mini apps — which gives developers the ability to make location-based games with points of interest or interactive maps for events.
Access to location data is disabled by default — you must specifically give location permissions to each individual mini app with which you'd like to share this data.
Apps can now use their stars to send you gifts as rewards to celebrate achievements.
We've also added a new privacy setting that lets you control who can send you gifts that will appear on your profile.
With this update, Telegram Premium users can set emoji statuses from inside mini apps, showing others that they're in a game 
or a taxi 
.
Mini apps can integrate APIs from other services — instantly updating a user's emoji status when they start playing music 
, open a book 
or turn on a movie 
.
Apps with location permissions could also be used to update your status when you're at work 
or out of the office 
.
Developers can also create their own custom emoji packs to offer as status options, adding to the viral potential of mini apps.
You can now share media directly from mini apps — sending referral codes, custom memes and more to any chat.
Mini apps can also create media for you to post to your stories.
Mini apps can also generate documents and files which you can download — such as AI-generated profile pictures or audio files.
Developers are able to offer subscriptions to their mini app using Telegram Stars — monetizing their efforts with multiple tiers of content and features.
Telegram Stars earned from digital products and subscriptions can be used to increase message limits for the app or claim rewards.
Developers are also eligible to earn rewards from Telegram Ads in bots and mini apps.
Developers can further customize the loading screen of their mini app in @BotFather — adding their own icon and specific colors that will be displayed before the app starts loading.
To better optimize graphics and increase performance, mini apps can access basic hardware info about your device, such as its processing power and memory capacity — then automatically adjust settings to provide the smoothest experience.
Developers can now know when their mini app is minimized and restored from the app bar and make sure they handle transitions correctly.
If you are a developer, see this page for detailed documentation and the full list of changes, including an easier way for mini apps to access profile pictures and support for third-party validation of mini app data.
Everyone can already try out early implementations of some of the new features in apps like @playdeckbot and @major (the Major Maze game on the Games tab).
That's all for today's update. We're already working on the next big thing for mini apps and beyond.
November 17, 2024
The Telegram Team
2024-10-31 23:14:48
Today's update adds faster loading, better quality and new speed controls to videos, last edit timestamps, attaching media to sent messages, increased limits for mini apps, new monetization options for developers – and much more.
For videos newly uploaded to large channels, the video player now automatically selects a quality level based on your connection to save your data and load videos faster. Users can also manually select their preferred quality level – High, Medium or Low.
On iOS, we've also made it easier to switch to Picture-in-Picture Mode – simply swipe up to continue watching as you browse your chats. Swiping down still closes the video.
To adjust video quality, tap the
gear icon in the video player.
Since users no longer have to watch videos in the resolution in which they were uploaded, large channel owners can afford to post better-quality videos. They will no longer need to pre-process their videos for the best viewing experience — Telegram will now optimize each uploaded video for them and compress it in several qualities.
Users on weaker connections will automatically get more compressed videos, while those with high-speed internet can enjoy the full resolution.
These new video quality features are currently available for channels with thousands of subscribers.
For years, videos on Telegram have supported multiple speed settings – and now users can seamlessly speed up videos with new gestures without tapping through settings.
Just hold down on the right side of a video to activate 1.5x speed – and slide right gradually to increase the speed to up to 2.5x. Release your finger to return to normal speed.
On Android, you can double-tap on the left or right side of the video to skip 10 seconds in either direction.
If you forget to attach your photo, video or file before sending, you can quickly edit the message to add media in just two taps – rather than deleting it and starting over.
You can also edit sent media to re-edit photos or replace media in a message.
Edited messages now show a timestamp, displaying when the message was last edited. If a message has been edited more than once, it will show the time of the most recent edit.
Your messages in small groups and private chats also have detailed read receipts – showing the time when your message was opened by each member.
Group and channel owners can use the new format #hashtag@username for hashtags that only show posts and stories from the same chat when tapped.
For example, a user tapping #travel would see search results from all of Telegram – while #travel@durov would immediately open results only from the @durov channel.
Typing a hashtag in the message bar of public chats shows a special menu – allowing you to add the chat's username to the hashtag in just one tap.
Only public posts and public stories appear in global hashtag searches.
Bots and mini apps are now able to participate in revenue sharing from Telegram Ads – giving services another way to help support their development.
Telegram Ads are unobtrusive and privacy-conscious – supporting Telegram's sustainable monetization strategy, while sharing 50% of ad revenue with content creators and bot developers.
All Telegram bots can send up to 30 messages per second to their users – completely free of charge. To better accommodate large-scale services, bots are now able to enable increased message limits and send up to 1000 messages per second.
Sending messages with increased limits costs just 0.1 Star per message, paid with Telegram Stars from the bot's balance. Developers can receive Stars from paid content and digital products in their bot.
In case you want to know the exact number of heart (or star, or pumpkin) reactions your posts receive, press and hold the counters for more details.
That's it for today. Enjoy the new videos while we work on more stuff to put into demo videos for the next update!
P.S. Happy Halloween! We've added some new limited gifts for those celebrating.
October 31, 2024
The Telegram Team
2024-10-05 20:54:58
Users can now send Gifts to their friends. The recipients of gifts can display them on their profile pages or turn them into Stars. Telegram Stars can be used for many things, including supporting creators and buying services in mini apps.
Additionally, Telegram launched a platform for businesses to verify customer phone numbers: this new verification platform lets users easily confirm their phone numbers by receiving a code via Telegram and will cost businesses just $0.01 per user. We've also improved video chats, added new ways to report content on Telegram — and more.
Telegram users can now send each other gifts for Telegram Stars — celebrating holidays and congratulating contacts with animated artwork and custom messages.
Just in case you need to give a unicorn instead of a star. 
When you receive a gift, you can display it on the new 'Gifts' tab of your profile — or discard the gift and get some of its Stars to spend elsewhere, including on more gifts.
To send a gift, open the user's profile and tap ⋮ / ⋯ > Send a Gift. You can add any message or emoji.
Just in case the unicorn needs explaining.
When sending a gift, you can choose to hide your name. The recipient will still know who sent it, but nobody else will see your name if the gift is displayed on their profile.
We know from our own experience how expensive it can be for businesses to verify phone numbers of their customers. Starting today, any business, app or website can send verification codes via Telegram and pay for them on Fragment. Telegram codes are faster, cheaper, more secure and convenient than SMS or other alternatives.
Just in case you don't want to spend half your company's budget on codes.
Users will instantly receive messages with codes in a special chat inside Telegram.
Telegram's Gateway API is completely free to test. Interested developers can learn more in our detailed guide.
Each day, Telegram moderators remove millions of pieces of content that violates our Terms of Service. Since 2015, all Telegram apps allow users to report messages to moderators.
To further improve moderators' ability to process reports at scale and our AI capabilities, the reporting menu has been expanded with even more detailed options for each category. The list of reporting reasons is now dynamically updated from the server, allowing us to suggest the most relevant reporting reasons in real-time, adapting to unfolding events and trends.
Just in case you need to report precisely that.
To report a message, tap on Android, hold on iOS or right-click on Desktop or Web and select 'Report'.
Video chats on iOS have been rebuilt from scratch to increase performance and improve battery life.
This also means that devices now stay dramatically cooler on long calls — even with multiple video feeds from dozens of participants.
Just in case you already have warm gloves.
Video chats on Telegram let you show your camera and share your screen at the same time.
Telegram for Android now has support for livestreaming with RTMP — allowing you to generate a stream key and connect your video feed to popular apps like OBS Studio and XSplit Broadcaster.
Just in case androids dream of RTMP streams.
RTMP streams are available on all Telegram apps — they were first introduced on iOS and Desktop in 2022.
That's all for today, we'll be working on new features while you're busy unpacking gifts.
October 5, 2024
The Telegram Team
2024-09-06 20:59:52
With today's update, groups and channels can use Telegram Stars as prizes in Giveaways. Also, any article you open in the Telegram Browser can now be converted to Instant View, making it easy to read.
Channel and group owners can host giveaways to promote their communities and reward random members with prizes — in exchange, they earn boosts which unlock posting channel stories and other perks.
In addition to Telegram Premium subscriptions and real-world prizes, you can now give away Telegram Stars as well. Winners can spend their Stars on paid media and exclusive subscriptions in channels — or in games and mini apps on the Telegram platform.
Just in case you want a meteor shower in your channel.
Giveaways are prepaid and completely transparent — with customizable settings for organizers.
Channel owners can start a giveaway via Channel Settings > Statistics > Boosts. For groups, go to Group Info > Statistics > Boosts.
The App Store and Google Play limit the size of transactions — but with @PremiumBot you can create larger giveaways at a lower cost.
In 2016, Telegram launched the Instant View standard — which automatically optimizes articles into perfectly formatted pages for your device with zero load times. This feature works for thousands of the most popular sites.
Telegram's in-app browser can now convert any article you are viewing into a more readable, lightweight layout.
Just in case you like to choose your own distractions.
To change a page to Instant View format, open the browser menu and select Show Instant View.
This new functionality was made possible thanks to Mozilla’s open source library.
Our team also set aside some special time last month to fix bugs and increase performance across Telegram's mobile and desktop apps. Thank you for all the user reports on our dedicated Bug Platform!
You can also leave your feature requests on our Suggestions Platform.
Several bug fixes were implemented for mini apps – making them even smoother and more responsive, along with new button options for developers.
Instead of just one button, mini apps can now display two buttons at a time in a side-by-side or stacked orientation. We also implemented a new shimmer effect for buttons that can be used to attract attention and guide users.
Just in case you need a button with your button.
Developers can see the full details in our latest Bot API update.
This month, Telegram surpassed 10 million Premium subscribers — a 2x increase in less than 8 months. This growth helps support our goal of sustainable monetization that prioritizes users and their privacy.
We thank all of our Premium subscribers for their continued support — which allows Telegram to continue creating powerful features that change how nearly one billion people communicate.
That's all for today's update, we'll be back to give away more features very soon.
September 6, 2024
The Telegram Team
2024-08-14 19:46:52
Today is Telegram's 11th anniversary. Since August 2013, we've pioneered hundreds of features and grown to nearly one billion users with zero marketing budget — all thanks to the support we got from you, our dear users and content creators.
With today's update, we continue the tradition of giving back to our community. Meet Star Reactions and Star Subscriptions that let users support content creators, paid media for bots and Business accounts, and a new mode for Telegram Channels that lets admins post as their other channels or personal profiles.
Users can now directly support their favorite channels and content creators by sending them Telegram Stars using a new Star reaction.
Channel owners receive 100% of the stars — and can convert them into Toncoin cryptocurrency rewards or subsidized ads.
Just in case tapping is your game.
Each post with star reactions shows a leaderboard with the top senders, but users can opt out of appearing there if they prefer more privacy.
To turn on Star Reactions on your posts, go to Channel Settings > Reactions > Enable Paid Reactions.
Content creators can now make special invite links that allow joining a channel in exchange for a monthly payment in Telegram Stars.
Just in case you're something of a star yourself.
It takes just a few taps to create an exclusive channel for extra content, early access media, or VIP livestreams.
To create a paid link, go to Channel Settings > Channel Type > Manage Invite Links > Create a New Link and enable Require Monthly Fee.
Channel owners can monetize their efforts by posting paid photos and videos in their channels.
This update makes paid posts available to bots — including bot admins in channels and bots powering Telegram Business accounts.
Just in case your content wants to buy a bot. 
This opens new ways to automate channels and businesses — or build sustainable services like image generation, video upscaling, and more.
Developers can find out more about implementing this feature here.
Telegram charges next to zero commission when developers or channel owners use their stars to receive rewards in Toncoin.
If content creators decide to reinvest stars into promoting their channel with Telegram ads, we will subsidize such ads with a further 30% discount.
When you post in a Telegram channel, subscribers will normally see the name and picture of the channel instead of your own.
Starting today, you can make your channel look more like a group where admins may post as their own profiles — or even as their other channels.
Just in case you want to put a channel in your channel. 
Channel admins can change who they post as at any time by tapping the profile picture in the message bar. Admins are never visible unless they explicitly choose to post in the channel with their own profile.
To turn your channel into a Super Channel, go to Channel Settings > Administrators and turn on Sign Messages and Show Authors' Profiles.
On iOS, documents like .pdf, .xls, or .docx are now opened in separate tabs of the Telegram browser to help you easily switch between files and messages in chats.
Just in case you've had enough paper. 
Since its previous birthday, Telegram has had 17 major updates introducing Stories, Stars, Quotes, Profiles, Recommendations, Telegram Business, Sticker Maker, Giveaway Platform, Bookmarks, Creator Rewards, and so much more.
And we're already working on the next year of Telegram History.
August 14, 2024,
The Telegram Team
