Last month, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said that users can now buy and sell usernames on the platform via Fragment. Now, with the latest Telegram update, the developer has added some new features, such as the voice-to-text conversion of video messages, interactive emojis and reactions. Here’s what the latest update has to offer. Let’s take a quick look at the major update includes topics in groups and can be enabled in group settings by group admins. They also have their own common media and notification settings, as they basically function like individual chats within a group. All the usual features available in groups (voting, pings, bots, etc.) are also available in topics. According to Telegram, the new Topics feature is currently only available for large groups (200+members) and will roll out later this year along with a separate set of tools for smaller groups. The messaging platform has redesigned Night Mode for Apple users. iOS users can now enjoy an updated dark theme with “more balanced colours and a better blur effect” when scrolling through chats or chat lists. Android users can now change the text size in Chat Settings to increase the chat text size for link previews, reply headers, etc. Voice-to-Text Video Message feature is available only for Telegram Premium subscribers and allows users to convert any video message to text with the push of a button. Previously, functionality was limited to voice messages. The newly launched feature is useful if you participate in many video calls or meetings and could come in handy for those who do video call interviews often. The new update also introduces collectable usernames, allowing users to assign multiple collectable usernames to their respective accounts and public chats. Collectable usernames are powered by Telegram’s TON blockchain network (which went live earlier this year) and can be bought and sold through a new platform created for this purpose called Fragment. Collectable usernames can be less than 5 characters in length and allow users to create unique usernames. Telegram claims that users have full control over their harvestable usernames once obtained and that they can be hidden (hide online) if desired, but losing a name is there is none. The developer added new interactive emojis with full-screen effects in 1:1 chats. The messaging platform also features 12 new emoji packs and 3 Halloween reactions that you can use in any chat.
