Telegram has always been ahead of WhatsApp in terms of features and their momentum doesn’t seem to be ending soon. The company has been winning the hearts of users who want a fuller package of communication options. With today’s update, the chatting platform just got more useful especially on location sharing.
Telegram just released the 4.4 update, do not let the small version number bump fool you, this is quite a huge release. The first feature is live location sharing. Previously, a user could simply share their current whereabouts with friends, but imagine a scenario where you are all coordinating a large event, say a wedding or a concert, your buddies would need to share their location every couple of minutes to the rest of the group. With the new update, you can share your location real-time for 15 minutes, 1hour or 8 hours. This feature comes in a option labelled “Share my location for..” It applies to individuals as well as groups. For the latter, you will get a live and interactive map which pinpoints where all your group pals are for the duration that you have set.
Next is multimedia, every self-respecting chat app can play back multimedia, but Telegram is taking this further. When a music file is playing, you can now tap on the title to see the whole playlist, cover art, artist name and even the options to shuffle and repeat a track. This will happen in a neat sliding up interface as shown on the gif above.
Group chats have also seen a new upgrade. Admins will have a badge next to their names so that group users can easily recognize their messages. This feature will be particularly important in professional groups where admins are the sources of important notifications and or clarifications. In addition, admins in supergroups can now control whether new members get to see the earlier message history, to act as a foundation of what the group is all about.
Lastly, Telegram now supports new languages including French, Indonesian, Malay, Russian and Ukrainian which brings the total to 13. Persian is said to be coming soon. The chat app uses a new translation platform that lets the community to change and suggest words of particular elements in the app through voting. Moreover, telegram can push new translations instantly without the need for users to update the entire app via the store, this behavior is unique from the format followed by other services.