Telegram Info English

Telegram May Introduce ‘Frozen’ Accounts for Rule Violators

The @tginfo editors have discovered new strings in Unigram's source code, indicating that the messenger may soon introduce the ability to put user accounts into a “frozen” state in an upcoming update.

Based on these strings, one can speculate:
• Accounts could be frozen for violating Telegram's Terms and Conditions.
• While frozen, users “can access their account but cannot send messages or perform any actions”. A frozen account would operate in “read-only mode”. Presumably, this restriction would even extend to private messaging with contacts.
• Telegram may offer users the option to appeal this decision through @SpamBot. If the freeze is not lifted, the account will be deleted.
• It is possible that other users may see a special indicator on profiles of frozen accounts.
• It remains unclear if “freezing” will be used to all permanently banned accounts before they are deleted.

This feature is still under development, and the above information consists of assumptions by @tginfo editors. Details could be inaccurate or subject to future changes.

#antispam

Telegram Desktop Has Been Updated to Version 5.12.2

What's new:
• Set a fee for incoming messages from unknown users.
• Set a fee for messages in groups or channel comments.
• Show some information about who's messaging you.
• Pin gifts on your profile.

Download: official website or GitHub.

#update #desktop

Telegram for Android and iOS Updated to Version 11.8

The following features are now available to users in the new version of the applications:

Paid Messages
Users subscribed to Telegram Premium may now charge a fee for private messages. Contacts and those exempted are not subject to fees. The options for this feature are located in “Settings › Privacy and Security › Messages”. When “Charge for Messages” is selected, you may select the amount of stars required to send a message and users that are exempt from fees. 85% of the stars spent on fees go to the recipient of the messages, and Telegram takes the other 15%.

Paid Messages in Groups
Groups may also set a fee for sending messages, requiring that regular members of the group pay the selected fee for each message they send. When enabled, messages cannot be scheduled, and existing scheduled messages will fail to send. Like the fee for messages in 1-on-1 chats, 85% of the stars go to the group, and the other 15% go to Telegram.

Withdrawal of Stars
Users may now withdraw stars from their personal balance through the Fragment.com platform. The corresponding button is available in the “My Stars” section of the in-app settings.

Premium for Stars
Users may now gift and purchase Premium subscriptions using stars. At the moment, three months costs 1,000 stars, six months costs 1,500 stars, and a year costs 2,500 stars.

More Details About Your Chat Partner
When someone outside your contacts messages you for the first time, the following information is now displayed:
• Their country (based on their phone number).
• Any shared groups you have in common.
• When they joined Telegram.
• When they last updated their username or profile picture.
• Indicators showing whether the user is an official account, has third-party verification, or is just a regular user.

Pinning Collectible Gifts to Your Profile
Users may now pin collectible gifts to their profiles in “My Profile › Gifts”. To do this, long press the desired gift, and then press “Pin”. Pinned gifts are displayed at the top of their owner's profile in addition to being at the top of their public gifts, and on Android the first pinned gift sits atop the owner's profile picture.

Broadcasting Content From Telegram Using Google Cast
Users may now broadcast media, such as videos, photos, and music, to devices that support the Google Cast protocol.
The broadcast function is available from the media viewer and music player.

Article: https://telegram.org/blog/star-messages-gateway-2-0-and-more

How to Update
• Android: Download from Google Play, APK from the official website, or the verified channel.
• iOS: Download from the App Store.

#update #Android #iOS

Telegram Has Tightened the Limits on Publishing Stories

Users that are not subscribed to Telegram Premium may now only publish up to 1 story per day, 3 stories per week, and 10 stories per month. On top of this, the list of countries that are unable to post stories without Premium has expanded to include at least the UK, Germany, and Indonesia. We haven't verified if any other countries are affected and it is not known if this was intentional or an error.

Along with those countries, users with phone numbers from Russia, Ukraine, India, and Iran still cannot publish stories without first subscribing to Telegram Premium.

List of known countries with no free stories is here: https://tginfo.me/stories-by-countries-en.

If you've lost the ability to post stories without Premium today and your country is not listed, tell us in the comments so we can update the list.

When the feature was first launched, Telegram allowed up to 3 free stories per day. However, in early February, the limit was reduced to 2 stories per day.

#premium #stories

Paid Messages in Groups

On the Telegram test server, users can set a fee for sending messages in their groups. Today, this feature works like this:

Settings
• You can enable paid messaging in the “Permissions” section of the group settings screen.
• Only administrators with the “Ban Users” permission can set up a fee for sending messages.
• The setting is only available in supergroups. It is not available in basic groups.
• If the setting is enabled, regular group members must pay for sending each message to this group. Sending messages remains free for administrators.
• 85% of the stars paid by members go to the group, and the other 15% go to Telegram. Only the owner of the group is able to see and withdraw the balance of the group.

Sending Messages
• If the paid message sending option is enabled in a group, then users will see the corresponding text in the empty input field, and instead of the send button, they will see a button with a price and an image of a star.
• For sending each message, an ordinary group member will have to pay the number of stars specified by the group administrators.
• In groups with paid messaging, it is not possible to schedule messages, and messages scheduled before paid messaging was enabled will not be sent at the scheduled time.
• There is no fee for editing messages that have already been sent.
• Sending an album of several media will cost you the same amount as sending a single message as much as sending each media individually.

We remind you that authorization on the test server is unstable, as is the purchase of stars. Discussion of these issues in our group is prohibited.

#Android #beta

More Details About Your Chat Partner

The beta version of Telegram for Android 11.8 now provides additional information about users who start conversations with you.

The app now displays:

• The country that issued the user's phone number
• The month and year of their account registration
• The number of mutual groups
• If the account is Telegram official one
• Third party verification status.
• If account profile picture was changes in last few days.

Pavel Durov previously announced this update on his channel.

#Android #beta

Telegram is Testing Paid Messages

Users have noticed that Telegram is testing paid messages in private and group chats.

What is known now:
• The group owner or conversation partner can enable this feature at their discretion. When paid, the majority of the stars go to the recipient of the message or the owner of the group.
• The paid messages setting will be available in private chats and groups.
• Paid message settings may differ for different types of chats.

There is no reliable information about other aspects of the future feature yet. At present, the feature is only available to some users and only on Telegram's test server.

#stars

Fine Issued by Australian Regulator eSafety

According to The Guardian, Telegram delayed providing information on measures it had taken to combat terrorism and materials related to extremism and child exploitation by 160 days.

Multiple companies, including Telegram, were issued a notice on March 18th of last year to provide said information by May 6th of last year, but Telegram provided the requested information on October 13th of last year.

The Australian internet regulator has assessed this delay at $957,780 AUD, or more than $600,000 USD. The platform now has 28 days to either appeal the fine, pay it, or request an extension to the payment deadline.

It is stated that Telegram intends to appeal the fine, citing that it is “unfair and disproportionate”.

#Australia #fines

Telegram Is Testing “Conferences”

Telegram for iOS 11.7.1 has an interface for conference calls. This feature will allow users to add new participants to an ongoing conversation, even if it was started directly between two people.

Recall that previously, it was only possible to organize a call for three or more users in a group or channel.

To see the button for adding participants to an ongoing conversation, go to the debug menu and enable "Conference [WIP]". The function itself does not work yet.

#iOS #calls

Non-Obvious Privacy Aspects When Sending Star Reactions

In August 2024, Telegram introduced the ability for users to send star reactions to channel posts, and in February 2025 — the ability to send such reactions not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of any of their public channels.

The privacy settings for both types of reactions are not obvious. If you expect that no one will know your name, keep in mind the following:

1. When sending a paid reaction on your own behalf, the application allows you to disable the "Show me in Top Senders" option. If the user disables it, then neither their name nor their profile picture will be displayed to other channel subscribers, even if they are among the three donors who sent the most stars to the post.
However, even in this case, the owner of the channel to which the stars were sent will see the sender's name in the "Monetization" tab in the channel settings.

2. When sending a paid reaction, the application allows the user to select one of the public channels that they own. In this case, the list of the top 3 senders will not display the name of the sender, but the name of the channel that they chose.
However, the owner of the channel to which the stars were sent will see the sender's name in the "Monetization" tab in the channel settings. By comparing it with the list of top 3 senders of stars to a specific post, the channel owner can find out who exactly owns the channel on whose behalf the stars were sent.

Be careful: Telegram applications do not warn users sending star reactions about these nuances.

#reactions #stars #privacy

Global Search for Stickers and Emojis in Telegram

Previously, Telegram users could only search for stickers from their own and official sticker sets using emojis or keywords that matched those emojis.

In December 2024, Telegram implemented computer vision algorithms and assigned keywords to stickers from official sets, enabling users to search for sticker sets with free-form queries. For example, users can now search for stickers by typing "paper airplane", which was previously impossible since there is no paper airplane emoji.

In February 2025, keyword search became available not only for official sets but also for "millions of stickers and emojis uploaded by users". It seems that the search currently displays some of the most popular sets.

To use this feature, you need a more recent version of the Telegram app. Supported versions include:
• Android: 11.7.3 (5696) and above
• iOS: 11.7.0 (30143) and above
• macOS (Swift): 11.7.270736 and above
• Telegram Desktop: Not yet available
• Unigram: Not yet available

According to the Telegram team, the search feature supports 29 languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian. @tginfo editors verified that the search works not only in the languages listed in the telegram.org language picker, but also in others, such as Hebrew. The search function also recognizes text on stickers.

It's important to note that search results depend not only on the search language but also on the interface language set in Telegram. For example, to search in Turkish, you need to set Turkish as the app's language. The @tginfo team observed that English queries work under most languages, but when switching the interface to English, more results appear for such queries. Queries in some other languages appear to work even when the app is set to English.

In his blog, Pavel Durov announced plans to add more sticker packs to the search results once the system can effectively filter out inappropriate content.

Currently, there is no option to disable the new sticker and emoji search feature. Additionally, there is no button to report search results.

#stickers

Telegram Desktop Has Been Updated to Version 5.11.0

What's new:
• Section for shortcuts editing: Settings › Chat settings › Keyboard Shortcuts
• Copy video links at current time.
• Set custom video covers when posting to channels.
• Send paid reactions from the name of your channels.

Download: official website or GitHub.

#update #desktop

Telegram Might Start Using CAPTCHA

Changes in the TDLib source code indicate that the messenger may start using a CAPTCHA — an "I'm not a robot" verification for certain actions. According to the code, the verification will be applied only in official Telegram apps.

Generally, CAPTCHA is used to protect against spam and other unwanted requests. Previously, the messenger could only block such suspicious actions.

It is still unknown for which actions and how often the verification may be required. There is a chance Telegram may use an invisible CAPTCHA, which will collect signals in background and provide Telegram with a bot score when it needs it.

@tginfo editors think CAPTCHA can reduce the number of errors and floodwaits experienced by some users. Alas, if this leads to more abuse, the messenger may tighten the system instead, and in that case, CAPTCHA will become an additional source of annoyance — and if Telegram will use an invisible CAPTCHA, users would not have alternative paths of remedy in cases when their activity is deemed suspicious.

The source code mentions reCAPTCHA — a user verification solution by Google. This is probably the technology that the messenger will be using. This raises some questions about privacy, since reCAPCHA uses extensive data collection to detect bots. Keep in mind that the feature is still in development, and the Telegram team may modify or cancel it.

#tdlib #antispam

Telegram Premium for German Users

Users who have German phone numbers now are able to purchase Telegram Premium via @PremiumBot.

These users now also can send Premium as a gift, purchase stars, view emoji statuses of other users, and use all other platform features.

#premium #Germany

Telegram Has Tightened The Limits on Publishing Stories

Users that are not subscribed to Telegram Premium may now only publish up to 2 stories per day, up to 5 stories per week and up to 20 stories per month.

Previously, such users were able to publish up to 3 stories per day, 7 stories per week, and 30 stories per month.

It is also worth noting that users with phone numbers from Russia, Ukraine, India, and Iran cannot publish stories at all without first subscribing to Telegram Premium.

#premium #stories

Google Play Protect May Mistakenly Flag Telegram App as Dangerous

Approximately an hour ago, users began reporting that Google Play's protection mechanism is warning them about the potential danger of the Telegram app. The security system alleges that the app may steal user data and blocking its installation and updates.

It is important to note that this warning is only affecting users who have installed or updated the app through the official Telegram channel @tandroidapk are receiving this warning. Users who downloaded the app from the Google Play Store do not encounter such warnings.

The @tginfoen editorial team believes that Google's protection mechanisms are erroneously flagging the app as dangerous. We have no reason to question the safety of the file published on the official @tandroidapk channel.

Telegram for Android and iOS updated to version 11.7, Telegram Desktop updated to version 5.10.5

The applications provide users with the following new features.

• The ability to “wear” collectible gifts
Owners of collectible gifts can now “wear” them: use the emoji, background, and pattern of such a gift to decorate their profile. To do this, press the “Wear” button on the collectible gift screen.

• The ability to send collectible gifts to the blockchain
Now gifts — just like collectible public names and phone numbers — can be transferred or auctioned using the TON blockchain. This way, owners will be able to maintain control over collectible gifts — even if they lose access to their Telegram account or delete it.

To send a gift to the blockchain, go to “Settings > My profile > My gifts” and tap on one of the gifts, then select “Transfer > Send via blockchain”.

• Gifts for channels
Now you can give gifts not only to other users, but also to channels. To do this, open the channel and click the 🎁 button in the lower right corner, or open the channel profile and select the appropriate option from the menu of the button with three dots in the corner of the screen.

The owner of the channel that received the gift can hide it from the channel profile, upgrade it, or send it to a user, another channel, or the blockchain. Subscribers of the channel may also view gifts that aren't hidden by the channel, as well as apply various filters to the channel's public gift list.

Please note: the ability to send gifts to channels will be available to users in different regions gradually. But it is already guaranteed to be available for the @durov channel.

• Posting gifts in stories and links to gifts
You can now share your gifts in stories. In addition, each collectible gift now has a unique link in the t.me/nft format.

Furthermore, users of the Telegram app for iOS now have the ability to choose a video cover when publishing it and send star reactions to channel posts on behalf of their public channels.

• Article on the official Telegram blog
https://telegram.org/blog/wear-gifts-blockchain-and-more

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub.
• Windows: Microsoft Store.
• Linux: Flathub or Snapcraft.

#update #Android #iOS #desktop

Telegram Updates Requirements for Mini-Apps Using Blockchain

On January 21, 2025, following an agreement with TON, Telegram updated its Terms of Service for bot developers, which introduce new rules for mini-apps that use blockchain or promote cryptocurrency services.

Key Changes:
• Exclusive Use of TON Blockchain: Mini-apps must use TON Blockchain exclusively to create, distribute, and manage cryptocurrency tokens or blockchain assets.
• Mandatory Use of TON Connect SDK: Interactions with crypto wallets must be facilitated through TON Connect SDK. Other protocols are permitted solely for transferring assets from other blockchains.
• Restrictions on Wallet Promotion: Promotion of cryptocurrency wallets is prohibited unless the wallets:
• Operate exclusively on TON Blockchain,
• Use TON Connect exclusively for app interactions,
• Primarily provide services related to TON.

Deadlines and Actions for Developers:
• Immediately: Stop using other blockchains for tokens or assets and migrate to TON Blockchain.
• By February 1, 2025:
- Transition to TON Connect SDK for wallet-related apps.
- Remove advertisements and links to wallets and services that don’t meet the new requirements.
• By February 21, 2025: Fully migrate the app to TON Blockchain, including assets and smart contracts.

Who Is Not Affected:
• Developers of regular bots without mini-apps.
• Creators of mini-apps that do not use blockchain technology.
• Developers whose mini-apps do not promote blockchain-related services.
• TON multi-chain wallets that allow users to send and receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and other cryptocurrencies.
• Wallets offering staking programs for tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others.
• Wallets enabling cross-chain token swaps directly through their app interface.

Telegram’s official service accounts are sending notifications to mini-app developers, requiring them to adapt their blockchain usage. Developers with questions about the migration to TON are advised to contact @BotSupport with the hashtag #MigrationToTON.

Interestingly, Telegram’s move comes after its founder, Pavel Durov, criticized Apple’s monopolistic practices with the App Store. Now, Telegram itself is introducing restrictions that may be perceived as an attempt to monopolize blockchain services on its platform.

#TON #bots

Telegram Desktop Has Been Updated to Version 5.10.4

What's new:
• Add messages search in channel comments.
• Allow sending your unique gifts to blockchain.
• Add option for running in backround on Linux.
• Fix possible freeze on quit on macOS.

Download:
• Windows/macOS/Linux: the official website or GitHub.

#update #desktop