WhatsApp's competitor Telegram introduces 10 new features; Here's what they are

Telegram Messenger, the cloud-based instant messenger app has brought in 10 new features. These are Profile Videos, enhanced Photo & Video editor, improved People Nearby, Mini-Thumbnails, Group Stats, New Animated Emoji, Multiple Accounts on Telegram Desktop, 2 GB File Sharing capabilities and more.

These updates come at the heels of the recent milestone – according to App Annie Intelligence. Telegram is among the top 10 most downloaded and most-used apps worldwide in 2020. It is the 8th most downloaded app, improving its rank from 11th position in the previous quarter. Moreover, it has now become the 10th most used app, improving its ranking from 12th position.

Here are the new features:

Profile Videos

Users can upload a video to their profile – and choose any frame they like for their static profile picture in chats.

Soften skin on photo & video editor

Any photo or video was taken by the users with the front-facing camera now has a soften skin option in the media editor. For Android users, cropping and rotating of the videos in the editor is also available now.

Improved People Nearby

Profile videos can make meeting new people more interesting and Telegram beefed up the People Nearby section for the occasion. Available in the privacy and security settings, when a user contacts someone via this feature, they will now be able to see their exact location with this new feature.

Mini-thumbnails

Users often wonder whether the incoming picture is just another meme or an image. With the mini-thumbnail feature in the chat list, users can get an idea of what media is in a message right away.

Filter new chats from non-contacts

If users wish to declutter their inbox from getting too many messages from non-contacts, they can try the new switch in Privacy & Security settings to automatically archive and mute new chats from people not in their contacts. They can access these chats anytime from the Archive folder and bring them back to the main chat list in a tap.

Group Stats

Owners of large groups with over 500 members can now view beautiful, detailed graphs about their activity and growth. Group stats also show a list of top members by many messages and average message length. It also includes parameters such as the growth of the group, members joined or left at a given timeframe, source of new members joined, languages used, the content format used (text, links, photo, videos, etc.), top days and hours, top members and admins, etc. planning to roll out access to group stats for admins of all groups with 100 members or more soon.

Multiple Accounts on Telegram Desktop

Telegram lets users stay signed in on 3 accounts from different phone numbers without logging out. The mobile users have been enjoying this feature since 2017, and now it's available on the multi-platform Telegram Desktop. This doesn't require an active connection to the user’s phone.

2 GB File Sharing

Since 2014, Telegram users have been sharing files up to 1.5 GB each. With the new update, users can send unlimited numbers of media and files of any kind – up to 2 GB each

Android Extras

On Android, Telegram has redesigned the music player with sleek new icons and an expandable tracklist. Users can tap the button on the left to control looping, shuffling and to reverse the track order. The message input bar will grow smoothly as they type a long message.

Crop feature in the video

The video editor now allows cropping and rotating videos as well.

More animated emoji

Keeping in line with the growing popularity and usage, Telegram has added new sets of animated emoji in e recent update