Earlier this month, Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, had confirmed that the Premium subscription tier of the popular cross-messaging platform will be coming to its subscribers this month.
Now, the company has officially rolled out Telegram Premium, its new paid subscription service, which will offer many exclusive additional features to its subscribers at $4.99 per month such as 4GB file uploads, faster downloads, exclusive stickers, and reactions, improved chat management and more.
Telegram Premium won’t affect the experience for its free users, as all existing features will continue to remain free. Moreover, non-premium users will be able to enjoy some of Premium’s benefits.
For example, non-premium users can download extra-large documents and view stickers sent by Premium users. They will also be able to add Premium reactions already pinned to a message to react in the same way as Premium users.
The contributions of premium subscribers will help improve and expand the app for decades to come, while Telegram will remain free, independent, and uphold its users-first values, redefining how a tech company should operate.
For the unversed, Telegram became one of the top five downloaded apps around the world in 2022 and now has amassed over 700 million monthly active users. With Telegram Premium, the company is looking to bring sustainable monetization to the service through its large user base.
“As Telegram keeps growing at rocket speed, many users have expressed their will to support our team. Today we’re launching Telegram Premium – a subscription that lets you support Telegram’s continued development and gives you access to exclusive additional features,” the Telegram Team wrote in a blog post on Sunday.
“This will allow us to offer all the resource-heavy features users have asked for over the years while preserving free access to the most powerful messenger on the planet.”
Let’s have a look at some of the exclusive features offered by Telegram Premium:
Table Of Contents
4GB Uploads
Telegram currently allows its users to upload files of up to 2GB in size and get unlimited storage of these files on the Telegram Cloud for free. However, with Telegram Premium, subscribers will now be able to send 4GB files, which is big enough for 4 hours of 1080p video, or 18 days of high-quality audio.
All Telegram users can download these extra-large documents, regardless of whether they are subscribed to Telegram Premium.
Faster Downloads
Premium subscribers will be able to download media and files at the fastest possible speed from Telegram servers.
Doubled Limits
Premium users will be able to follow up to 1000 channels (up from 500), create up to 20 chat folders with up to 200 chats each, add a fourth account to any Telegram app, pin up to 10 chats in the main list, reserve up to 20 public t.me links, and save up to 10 favorite stickers as well as 400 favorite GIFs.
Voice-To-Text
Telegram Premium is introducing a voice-to-text transcription tool that will allow users to convert voice messages to text for those times when they would prefer to read messages than hear what the audio says. These transcriptions can be rated by the user so that they can be improved over time.
Unique Stickers And Reactions
Premium users can now send full-screen animation stickers in any chat to add extra emotion and expressive effects that are visible to all users. This premium sticker collection will be updated every month by Telegram artists. Additionally, Premium users will also unlock more ways to react to messages, with over 10 new emojis.
Chat Management
Telegram Premium provides new tools to its users to organize their chat list like changing their default chat folder so the app always opens on a custom folder or, say, Unread instead of All Chats.
Additionally, subscribers can enable a setting in Privacy and Security to automatically archive and mute new chats, helping organize even the busiest chat lists.
Animated Profile Pictures
Premium users will be able to use animated profile videos throughout the app including in chats and the chats list, which will be visible to everyone.
Premium Badges
All Premium users will get a special badge that will appear next to their name in the chat list, chat headers, and member lists in groups indicating that they are actively supporting Telegram and are exclusive members of the privileged user club.
Premium App Icons
Premium users will have the option to add new icons to their Home Screen to better match their personality or wallpaper.
Ad-Free Experience
In some countries, Telegram shows sponsored messages on large and public one-to-many channels to help support its operating costs. These advertisements will no longer appear for subscribers of Telegram Premium.
Telegram Premium is currently only available for iPhone users, which was added in version 8.8. It is unknown when the paid version on Android will be launched.
