Messaging apps are notable for their numerous updates and improvements.
Used by practically everyone who is connected to the internet, they are always on the move to create better and better experience. One of the players here, is Telegram, the privacy-focused and encrypted messaging app.
Telegram is rolling out some features in version 5.0 of the app, which introduces support for custom languages, an update to version 2.0 for its instant view feature, and more.
Coming up first, is the 'Custom Languages'.
What it does, is bringing equal treatment to the smaller linguistic communities around the world.
With it, Telegram users can use translation platform to literally create their own custom language pack for the application, and apply it in real-time. The team at Telegram believes this feature should help minority languages (or local dialect).
Examples include Māori, Scottish Gaelic, and Transliterated Klingon.
Second is, the 'Instant View 2.0'.
With this feature, Telegram allows users to view web pages in a consistent way, and also "with zero loading time."
Essentially, Instant View lets users open links in-app in a consistent format, and the 2.0 version brings improvements which include the support for right-to-left languages, blocks of related articles, image links, tables, nested lists, horizontal scrolling, collapsible text blocks, and more.
There’s a lot going on in this update for both Android and iOS users.
For example, the Android app has tweaked its design so users can access shared media directly from profiles of users, groups, and channels. This allows better discovery of contents. Previews of the media are also in high-quality, and there is also an improvement in speed and loading time.
There is also a tweak where Telegram can show more information in the links and files sections, the app having a new Settings screen for a more streamlined experience, giving users the ability to zoom videos during playback, and more.
In short, Telegram 5.0 brings UI that looks simpler, by categorizing everything rather than making things all mixed up inside submenus and toggles.
As for iOS users, the update to version 5.1 of the app includes some 400 minor changes.
They include: better Apple Watch support, a 'Read All' feature, the ability to pin messages in small groups, the ability to select multiple chats and quickly delete them or mark them as read, the ability to report child abuse using the 'Report' feature on media in groups and channels.
Telegram isn't just focusing on mobile, as its app for desktop has also been improved.
In version 1.5 for Windows, Telegram adds a lot of functionalities. In addition to new emoji, improved scaling for larger screens, 2x speed for video and audio, and Twitter and Instagram link previews, the update also added support for custom languages which means that Windows users can also create and add their own languages for use on the platform.
The full release notes:
- Support for custom languages, then apply it in real time.
- Interface scaling for large screens, up to 300% (up to 150% for macOS retina screens).
- ‘Count unread messages’ setting for the Badge counter in Settings > Notifications. Disable to show number of unread chats.
- Video messages displayed in shared media (under voice messages).
- Updated emoji; farewell to question marks.
- Listen to voice and video messages in 2X mode.
- Add a comment when sharing posts from channels.
- View all photos and videos in Twitter and Instagram link previews.
- Add emoji to media captions.