Message Effects, Hashtag Search, and More

Message Effects

Messages in 1-on-1 chats can now be sent with animated effects that play when the recipient opens the chat. Nothing says 'I Love You' like a screen covered in kisses , or flames , or something else altogether .

Everyone can use 6 free effects, while Telegram Premium unlocks hundreds more – including all the effects from Premium stickers.

To add an effect, simply press and hold the Send arrow and pick the emotion that matches your message.

From the same menu, you can schedule a message or send it silently.

Captions Above Media

Captions can now be moved above media so that illustrations for your posts and meme punchlines know their place.

To do this, select media in your attachment menu, then type a caption into the input field that appears, press and hold the Send arrow, and select 'Move Caption Up' to change its position.

You can also edit media or albums to move their captions up or down – simply edit the message, press and hold the Save button and select 'Move Caption Up'.

Quick Actions for Phone Numbers

Tapping a phone number in a chat opens a redesigned menu – with options to send a message, start a call, or add the number as a contact with just one more tap.

Hashtag Search

Since 2015, you can use hashtags to easily search for #important messages (or #cats) across your chats.

With today's update, hashtags become global. Tapping a hashtag in any chat also shows search results from big public channels – letting you quickly find breaking #news from channels or scroll through #travel videos.

When browsing the 'Public Posts' tab, you can choose to view them as a scrollable feed of posts or as a compact list.

Global hashtag search only includes messages from big public channels. Messages from private chats are never shown.

Collapsible Quotes

People like to read short texts – so much that we're surprised you've read this far!

You can now make your messages more compact by hiding fragments of text inside collapsible quote blocks.

Simply add quote formatting and tap the collapse button in the input field. Your readers will be able to expand and read the quote – or scroll a lot less to skip it.

Colorful Calls on macOS

Last December, we added dynamic backgrounds and stylish animations to voice and video calls on Android and iOS. Now those same interface updates are available for users of our native macOS app – making desktop calls more beautiful while using fewer resources than before.