The Telegram App Has Received a New Look and a Strange New Feature.
If you prefer using Telegram for chat, you’re in for some changes. This week, the company announced a number of updates, the main one being a new look for its Android and iOS apps. The former will receive a complete overhaul, but iPhone users will still notice some new interface elements when chatting with friends on Telegram. There are also new features, including one that I find a little odd.
Telegram has a new design on mobile devices.
According to the announcement, the most significant changes affect the user interface, particularly on Android. Telegram states that its Android app has received a “completely redesigned interface” designed to make navigation faster and more intuitive—Telegram notes that the interface code itself has been completely rebuilt to achieve these goals. The changes include a new bottom bar, similar to iOS, which allows you to switch between chats, settings, and your profile, among other functions. If you find the new interface effects too intrusive or draining your battery, Telegram says you can customize them in Settings > Power Saving .
The company also updated its iOS app, though not in exactly the same way. Telegram says it has added “even more Liquid Glass “—Apple’s new branding for iOS 26—to its iOS app, including a redesigned media player, sticker and emoji preview panels, and new context menus in profiles when selecting messages.
You can now transfer a Telegram group chat to a new administrator.
In the latest update, if the owner of a Telegram group chat leaves the chat, ownership of the group automatically transfers to one of the group’s administrators after a week. However, the departing owner can also choose their own administrator if they wish, as Telegram now defaults to assigning a different administrator when leaving a group. The company adds that administrators can transfer ownership at any time, even if they don’t leave the group.
Telegram bots have now become more colorful.
It’s a small change, but if you’re developing bots for Telegram, you now have the option to add colors and emoji to these buttons. It’s far from a radical update, but it might make it a little easier to distinguish between options at a glance.
The Telegram app for iPad has a new messaging feature.
A small but important update for all Telegram users on iPad: you can now send messages using the keyboard shortcut “Command + Enter”.
You can now create gifts in Telegram.
And here’s this weird new feature: I don’t usually expect my chat app to offer collectible gifts, but apparently Telegram does. It previously added the ability to send gifts to other people and even upgrade those gifts into collectibles that can be sold on NFT platforms (which require real money).
Telegram is reportedly expanding its gifting system in the latest update, adding the ability to combine existing gifts in a new “crafting” system to create “uncommon, rare, epic, or legendary” versions. You can combine up to four gifts at a time, and adding multiple gifts with the same “attribute” increases the chance that the resulting gift will also have that attribute. Again, this is the last thing I’d expect or want from a chat app, but since it’s part of the update, I’ll tell you about it.