Just About Telegram: only official news from Telegram, Telegram Web and MacApp Team

🎁 Launched just three months ago, Telegram gifts have become an internet sensation. This holiday season alone, Telegram users exchanged a record-breaking 20 million gifts 🎁🎁🎁

📰 On January 1st, we introduced the ability to transform limited-edition gifts into unique collectibles. These can be transferred within Telegram and externally as NFTs. Minting a unique gift costs just 25 Stars, which is spent on the TON blockchain fees required to mint the NFT 🎁🎁🎁

🏆 Our artists have designed countless versions of 21 limited-edition gifts and are already working on the next 25. The level of artistic effort invested in this project has been incredible. We got so carried away that, for some gifts, we ended up paying our artists more than the revenue they generated 🎁🎁🎁

💵 I hear that third-party NFT marketplaces are already working on enabling auctions for minted Telegram gifts. It will be exciting to see how this ecosystem evolves 🎁🎁🎁

🐵 Humans are hardwired to copy others by evolution — for a good reason. Mimicking those around us has been the most efficient survival strategy for millions of years. However, the world is different today. We now live in an age of rapid change — what used to be efficient becomes a recipe for mediocrity and decay ☠️

🥂 Let 2025 be the year we rely on our own opinions — not imposed stereotypes and outdated thought patterns. Only by trusting our instincts and following our own unique paths can we fulfil our potential and make great contributions to the world 🎨

🎆 Have a happy and productive 2025, everyone! 🚩

✍️ To justly recognize all notable submissions, we will announce the results on January 5th, 2025, considering the initially extended deadline for contestants.

🏆 We would like to thank every developer and designer who participated in our competitions in 2024. We hope you gained valuable experience and refined your skills.

✨ We are excited to host more interesting, challenging, and rewarding contests in 2025.

Stay tuned!

🆒 We planned an epic New Year’s Eve update with unique gifts for our users. Unfortunately, it’s been stuck in Apple’s review process for a few days, and we still have no response from them. Thanks for your patience — and happy 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣

🏆 Telegram iOS Contest 2024: Results

We appreciate your patience as we evaluated the results of this contest. The complex task and the initial requirements we outlined proved to be challenging to the majority of contestants.

Out of a total of 23 entries, 7 were disqualified for introducing changes that broke the application build process.

After confirming that the remaining apps could be built and included the features outlined in the contest task, we proceeded to the testing stage.

After many hours of testing and cross-checking the submissions, we discovered that only 4 out of the remaining 16 apps were able to play the HLS streams. Unfortunately, the approach used in these apps is far from optimal and, as a result, cannot be used.

Since we were also working on the same task under the release cycle with an even tighter deadline, here’s the approach currently used in the iOS app:
We use bridging to connect the JavaScript implementation of HLS and the native code. For rendering, we created a player compatible with Media Source Extensions.

After evaluation, we have decided to split the prize fund in half and increase the total prize pool for Round 2 by an additional $25,000. Stay tuned for updates in Q1 2025.

Meet the winners!

2nd PLACE – $6,500
🥈Classy Whale
🥈Bold Wasp

3rd PLACE – $3,000
🥉 Tall Penguin
🥉 Subtle Cow

We have also decided to award 12 other contestants a bonus of $500 for their contributions, and we hope to see them in the prize-winning spots next time. (More details and check if you are on the list – on contest.com)

🍌 Access to certain Russian media has been restricted in the EU under DSA/sanctions laws 🇪🇺

🔉 Meanwhile, all Western media Telegram channels remain freely accessible in Russia 🇷🇺

🤔 Who would have thought that in 2025 Russian Telegram users would enjoy more freedom than European? ❓

RT @durov: Telegram is now profitable 🏆

📈 This year, the number of Telegram Premium subscribers tripled, exceeding 12 million. Our ad revenue also increased a few times. Telegram's total revenue in 2024 surpassed $1 billion, and we are closing the year with more than $500 million in cash reserves, not including crypto assets 🪙

🏦 Over the past four years, Telegram has issued about $2 billion in debt. We repaid a meaningful share of it this Fall, taking advantage of favorable prices for the Telegram bonds. But there’s a lot of work ahead 👨‍💻

🔬 Our innovations in monetization this year (⭐️Stars, 🎁 Gifts, 🪙Giveaways, 🖥 Mini Apps, 🤝the Affiliate Platform, 💼Telegram Business, and 📥Telegram Gateway) demonstrate that social media platforms can achieve financial sustainability while staying independent and respecting users' rights 💪

Just about Telegram by @JustAboutTelegram
A @grttme project - Other backups: @Hallotme

ContestBot will begin accepting submissions for the Android Contest 2024, Round 2 later today.

New deadline: 23:59 on December 22nd (Dubai time)

We are extending the deadline to ensure all contestants have enough time to properly adjust both package id and api_id for their apps.

If you are a first-time participant, set aside at least 2-3 hours for this stage and ensure your app can be installed alongside official apps and does not break basic functions like login.

Start the bot later today, choose “Android Contest 2024 R2”, answer the bot’s questions, then send:

- An .apk file (release build). Make sure your code is using your own package id.
- A link to the commit on a public GitHub repository, forked from the Telegram-Android repository.

Note: Your repository may stay private until the deadline. Entries that are not using their own package id will be penalized.