Record Live Video. Admins can record Live Streams and Video Chats to save and share after the broadcast.

Video can be recorded in portrait or landscape orientations, and after the recording is stopped or the broadcast ends, the file is instantly uploaded to the admin’s Saved Messages.

You can start recording from any device – simply tap ⋮ or ⋯ to open the broadcast menu.

Public Groups and Channels.
All groups and channels are private by default, but you can make them public and open for any user to join or subscribe.

Public groups and channels have unique t.me links, appear in Global Search results, can reach an unlimited audience and host massive communities for any interest.

You must be the chat owner to change the group or channel type. On Android tap the Chat Header > ✏️ > Group/Channel Type. On iOS tap the Chat Header > Edit > Group/Channel Type.

Bots. Perform tasks and access services built on Telegram’s open Bot Platform. Use the Bot Menu or enter text to send your command, and the Bot will instantly process your request.

Any developer can build these chat-based applications that run directly inside Telegram for anything from online stores to arcade games.

Bots have unique t.me links and can be found in search – like the official Sticker Bot, Gmail Bot, and more.

Productivity Tip: Use pinned messages in Groups and Channels to highlight important info or create a directory to easily navigate between messages or even multiple chats.

All messages in groups and channels have unique links that will instantly direct a user to that specific message.

In private groups and channels, these links only work for members or subscribers of the chat.

Shared Media. Tap the header in any chat to open its Shared Media page – containing all the photos, videos, music and more that have been sent there.

Drag the date bar to swiftly scroll back years in the past, and tap the bar to open a calendar view with media previews for each day.

Tap ⋮ or ⋯ to show only photos, only videos, or both and pinch to zoom in or out and change the size of the previews – then press and hold on any thumbnail to jump to its place in the chat.

Join Requests. Enable admin approval for additional links to your group or channel so you can preview potential members before they are able to access the chat.

With these links you can create and join special closed chats – like a group just for superfans, or a channel with exclusive content. Users opening these links send a join request, which admins can manage from a banner at the top of the chat.

Bot developers have the tools to build bots that can share invite links and approve potential members – or even give them special tasks before they are allowed to join.

Global Themes. Choose from 9 themes built by Telegram designers for your entire app – each with a Day and Night mode, colorful animated background, and gradient message bubbles.

Like all themes, you can personalize these to change colors or pick a different pattern. For more custom settings, tap Chat Themes on iOS or Browse Themes on Android to edit and share your creations.

Instant Media Captions. On all Telegram apps, the text you type in the message bar automatically converts to a caption when you attach media.

This also works with Cloud Drafts – so you can type out the message on one device, then simply attach your media from another device and send it all together.

Tap ⋮ on Android to attach media after putting text in the message bar.

Protected Content. Content creators can enable Restrict Saving Content in their group or channel to keep posts exclusive to their audience.

Enabling this setting restricts forwarding messages from the chat, prevents screenshots and disables saving media from posts.

Only the group or channel owner can edit this setting, which is available via the chat’s Info Page > Edit > Group/Channel Type.

Delete Messages by Date. Tap the date header in any 1-on-1 chat to select a day or range of dates and delete all messages sent and received during that period.

Deleted messages are permanently erased and can be removed only for you or for both sides – if you’d like messages to automatically delete themselves for both sides, enable auto-delete in any chat.

Device Management. In Settings > Devices you can see all the places where you are logged in.

Tap Link Desktop Device to quickly log in on Telegram Desktop or Web via QR Code.

Select an individual device to choose whether it can accept incoming calls or Secret Chats – or to log it out remotely.

All devices can also be set to log out automatically after a certain period of inactivity – ranging from 1 week to 1 year.

Reactions. Give instant feedback on a message – double tap to send a quick 👍 or tap once (press and hold on iOS) for more options: 🥰 ❤️ 🔥 👏 🎉 🤩 😁 😱 🤯 🤔 😢 🤬 👎 💩 🤮

Reactions are always on in private chats. In groups and channels, admins can choose to enable reactions and pick which emoji are available.

You can change your quick-reaction emoji in Settings > Chat Settings on Android or Settings > Appearance > Stickers and Emoji on iOS.

Spoiler Formatting. Select any part of your message when typing and choose ‘Spoiler’ in the formatting menu to hide the text under an animation in chat, as well as in the chat list and notifications.

Tap the animation to reveal the hidden text – spoilers can also be combined with other text formatting, including links.

On MIUI devices, tap ⋮ in the top-right corner to show the formatting options.

Message Translation. In Settings > Language you can add a dedicated Translate button to the context menu when selecting a message.

You can also exclude languages that you speak fluently, which will hide the translation button for those messages.

Translation is available on all Android devices that support Telegram, but requires iOS 15 or higher on Apple devices.

QR Codes for Public Profiles. Generate a QR code for yourself or any user with a public username – as well as any public group, channel or bot.

Tap the QR code icon next to a person’s username or on a chat’s info page, customize its appearance, then print, post or share the code anywhere.

You can generate a QR code for your own profile from the Settings page – those you share it with can add you as a contact via your public username or your phone number link.

Users who don’t have a username and hide their phone number from everyone generate temporary QR codes that follow their privacy settings.

Text Recognition. On devices with iOS 13 or macOS 10.15 and above, you can use Live Text to select and copy text directly from photos in chat.

On iOS, tap to open a photo in the media viewer, then tap the text icon to isolate words from the background. The macOS app automatically detects text in photos – ready for you to select with your cursor.

This secure image recognition is handled entirely on your device.

Video Stickers. Easily create animated stickers from .WEBM video files in any editing program and publish them using the @Stickers bot.

For more details, check out the Video Sticker Manual and this step-by-step Stickers Bot Guide.

Developers can use the Sticker Import API to build apps for creating and importing stickers to Telegram.

Reaction Effects and Read Status. Animations for reactions are compact and play in real time for all chat members. To send a larger effect, press and hold an emoji in the menu.

Reactions also have read status – tap the ♡ button that appears in chat to jump to your messages with unseen reactions.

Navigate Recent Chats. Press and hold the ‘Back’ button to return to a specific chat after opening other chats from forwarded messages, links, profiles and more.

When jumping through unread channels, previous channels from the feed will also appear in the list.

Download Manager. Control your media and file downloads from the Downloads tab in Search, or tap the ⬇️ icon that appears in the chat list when you have active downloads.

Pause and resume all downloads or individual items – and select one to view it in chat. On iOS, you can select an item to raise its priority, so it will be downloaded first.