What you need to know
- Telegram’s latest enhancements include the ability to customize your message alerts using any sound.
- The app has also rolled out custom mute durations and multiple steps to the auto-delete timer.
- Its picture-in-picture mode on Android now lets you resize the window player.
- There are new animated food emojis in the chat and an updated interface to change your phone number.
Although Telegram is without a doubt less popular than WhatsApp, the team behind one of the best messaging apps deserves a pat on the back for releasing new updates almost on a monthly basis. The latest round of enhancements is now available and it gives you more control over your Telegram experience.
Telegram now lets you take more control of your message sound by setting any sound as your message alert. This means you can now make notification tones out of your favorite music or even memes. A voice message can also be used as a tone and assigned to any single chat or group of chats.
However, there are a few limitations. Telegram says it only supports audio files and voice messages under 300 KB in size and up to 5 seconds long. These tones are cross-platform, so you can listen to them on your iPhone even if you have uploaded them to your Android phone.
In addition to creating your own notification sound, you can choose from any of the tones available on the Telegrams Notification Sounds channel.
The mute function has also become much more useful. Telegram’s latest update gives you more options for how long you want to turn off a chat. For example, you can choose to pause notifications for 30 minutes if you do not want to be disturbed during your lunch break, or even for 2 months if you are on sabbatical.
Previously, you could only turn chats off for 8 hours or 2 days, so the new options are more convenient. You can access custom durations of the sound via a new streamlined menu that appears in each chat.
Additionally, the update adds multiple auto-delete intervals, such as 2 days, 3 weeks, 4 months, and more. This feature can be enabled in any chat to automatically delete messages at any time.
On Android, the picture-in-picture mode of the app now allows you to pinch to resize the window player. Telegram has also improved message translation for iOS users with the support of the same number of languages as on Android.
When you forward messages to other chats, you can also include previews of replies “so everyone can see the full context of your internal jokes,” Telegram said in a blog post.
You will notice a new animation when you change your phone number in the Settings menu, as well as a new animated food emoji if you want to include a flipping cookie or a rotating slice of cake in your chats.
These improvements come a month after Telegram introduced a new download manager and redesigned its attachment.