Telegram Crosses 1 Billion Downloads Globally, With India as the Largest Market

Telegram has become the latest app to surpass the mark of one billion downloads globally, according to data shared by Sensor Tower. The Dubai-headquartered app, which was launched in late 2013, surpassed the milestone on Friday, the mobile insight firm told TechCrunch. As is the case with the app’s chief rival, WhatsApp, India is the largest market for Telegram. The world’s second-largest internet market represents approximately 22% of its lifetime installs, Sensor Tower said.

“[India is] followed by Russia and Indonesia, which represent about 10% and 8% of [all installs], respectively. The app’s installs accelerated in 2021, reaching about 214.7 million installs in the first half of 2021, up 61% year-over-year from 133 million in H1 2020,” it added.

It’s worth noting that the number of installs doesn’t equate to the app’s active userbase. Telegram had about 500 million monthly active users as of early this year, for instance. But the surge in downloads, which coincides with WhatsApp’s poor handling of relaying its privacy policies to its massive userbase, nonetheless suggests that Telegram has enjoyed some additional attention in recent quarters.

Telegram, which earlier this year raised over $1 billion, is the fifteenth app worldwide to have been downloaded 1 billion times or more, Sensor Tower told TechCrunch. Other apps on the list include WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify and Netflix, according to Sensor Tower. (Mobile research firms don’t track the installs of most Google apps that come pre-installed on Android devices.)

Advertising from Telegram or new tools for channel admins?

In Telegram for Android and macOS Beta, you can see a new type of message: "sponsored". The message is very similar to the advertising that was previously promised Pavel Durov, but in fact it may also be a tool for buying and selling advertising in Telegram channels.

Telegram v8.0.0 Beta Version Released; Video Recoding, Hide Sender Name

The new build gets the number 8.0 and quite a few changes. First of all, the messenger has added a news feed. It means that all incoming messages from the channels will now be in one place. Also, the developers have added the Sponsored tags to promotional posts, the ability to search for GIFs using emoji, message animations with four different gradients, and forwarding messages without an author.

Another interesting feature is the ability to record videos of different formats in voice chats. In addition videos can be in portrait or landscape orientation.

Video Recording in Voice Chat

In Telegram for Android 8.0 Beta, you can record videos in video calls. Recording can be done in two modes: portrait and horizontal.Currently, due to server restrictions, video recording doesn't work.

Hide Sender's Name

In another words, forward without quotes. The well known feature in unofficial clients is now coming to official client. Just tap on the forward header above input box while forwarding message for hiding the sender/author name

Message bubbles animation 

In Telegram for Android 8.0 Beta now you can see the animation of message bubbles. Also, you can set a gradient on the message bubbles as well as on the background, including from 3 to 4 colors, which activates the bubble animation while sending messages.

Animated emojis for GIF tab

In Telegram for Android 8.0 Beta, emojis that displays emotions for GIF animations have become animated.

Channel posts feed

In Telegram for Android 8.0 Beta, you can quickly switch to the next unread channel. After reading the channel completely, you should make a second swipe up.

Updated design of sticker preview

In Telegram for Android 8.0 Beta, the the sticker selection design after entering an emoji was updated.

Upcoming Telegram version 7.10 update

Telegram for Android developers updated source code of the app. Based on it, we made a list of future changes.

What's new:

• After you reach the end of a channel, an extra swipe will open next unread channel. Currently it's unknown what name will be assigned to the feature.
• Record video in voice chats in either horizontal or vertical orientation.
• Trending packs in the sticker chooser pane.
• An option to forward messages without specifying the author of the original message.
• (Not sure yet) animated gradient for message bubbles, just like background one.

Slow mode in the chat In Telegram X

Slow mode in the chat In Telegram X for Android 0.23.11.1423 Beta, you can set the slow mode in the chat.

Telegram X Local Update

In Telegram X for Android 0.23.11.1423 Beta, you can update the application bypassing the app store. You can download the APK on the @tgx_log channel. To verify the authenticity of the APK, you can use the @tgx_bot bot.

Telegram X for Android has been updated to version 0.23.11.1423 Beta

What's new:

— Added support for local updates bypassing the app store.
— Added ability to set up a slow mode in a group chat.
— The active sessions item is displayed on the "Settings" page.
— Added the "Save to music" button for the player.
— The assembly of native libraries on cmake has been rewritten.
— Added work on reproducible builds.
— Updated CameraX and other libraries.
— Support for the latest version of TDLib.
— Completely redesigned the processing of internal links.
— Added support for tg://settings links and other types.
— Added automatic build and notifications in @tgx_log.
— Preparation for the developer competition.
— Added transition to AGP 7.0.1
— Other changes.

Error correction:
— No date for uploading profile photos (further than the first one).
— Operation of the "Beginning" button when searching for messages by date.
— Operation of the "Set as current" and "Delete" buttons for old profile images.
— Other fixes.

Telegram Forward a message as copy - MacOS Beta

In Telegram for macOS Beta, users can remove the sender's name in the forwarded message. To do this, users need to click on the cross, after selecting the chat to forward a message. At the moment, it's unknown how the messages will look like after forwarding. Due to restrictions on the server, this function doesn't work. In the future, this feature will appear in other messenger clients.