There were rumours that Telegram will start offering a “premium” plan that allows users to have access to a more powerful Telegram than regular users. That rumour is not a rumour anymore though. As of today, Telegram has made that rumour a reality for about US$ 5 a month (MYR 22.90*).
Now is the time to ask; “why do you need to pay for Telegram Premium?”
As paying users, you get access to upload files with up to 4GB in size. That means you can technically send out an entire Full HD movie out to your friends via Telegram. Regular users can upload files up to 2GB. Paying users also get to download their files faster than before, as fast as your internet connection can go, which means that a 4GB file might not be too big of an issue when you have high-speed internet.
You get your limits doubled too with Telegram Premium. You can follow up to 1000 channels and groups. You can pin up to 10 chats instead of five. Instead of two accounts in a single app, premium users get to work with up to four accounts. At the same time, you can now write a longer bio on your Telegram profile with links in it. At the same time, with up to 400 saved GIFs, responding to texts with witty images is faster than ever.
Paying users can also convert voice to text within the chat now. Instead of listening to a voice note, you can just get Telegram to convert voice messages to texts. It also improves over time with your rating and input.
At the same time, paying users get to have unique reactions to texts. You have exclusive stickers that is only available to paying users and over 10 new exclusive emoji to react to messages. Even your profile pictures can be animated now, alongside a premium badge on your profile so that others know you are paying for Telegram. If you want, you can even change your app icon on your smartphone. Of course, the other improvement to Telegram with Premium is that you do not get served ads in public channels.
To get Telegram Premium, you must update your app to version 8.8 which is currently only available on iOS for now. The 8.8 update is coming to Android devices very soon, so we should see some paying users from both the iOS and Android realms. More information and improvements on Telegram version 8,8 can be found on their blog.
*Official Malaysia Pricing
