Telegram was likely the only social media app left who didn’t adopt the Stories feature and it seems like the app cannot avoid the inevitable feature anymore. It has announced that Telegram Stories are soon coming to the app next month. The app further claims to have innovated on the existing Stories format.
“Initially, we were against this since Stories are already everywhere. However, Telegram wouldn’t be Telegram if we didn’t listen to our users and didn’t innovate on existing formats”, said Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov on his channel. He further detailed some of the features that will make Telegram Stories different from those available on other apps.
What’s new in Telegram Stories
First, the Stories will be privacy focused, so you can choose who can see each of your stories with granular precision, such as Everyone, only your contacts (with exceptions), a few selected contacts, or a list of Close Friends. Next, it will have a compact UI and will be placed in an expandable section at the top of your chat list, which makes them easy to access without taking away valuable space. Durov also posted a video showcasing the feature, but on iOS. It is not known as of now as to how Stories will appear on Android.
Users will be able to hide Stories posted by any contact, moving them to the ‘Hidden’ list in your Contacts section instead of the main screen. Then, it will also get captions support apart from powerful photo and video-editing tools. You will be able to use captions for your stories to add more context or links and tag other people.
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Stories on Telegram will also have dual-camera support, so users can post photos and videos taken by the front and the rear cameras simultaneously. You’ll also be able to choose when a story expires – in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours – or permanently display stories on your profile page, with individual privacy settings for each. More features will be unveiled at the time of the launch.
Telegram confirms that Stories are in their last testing phase and will become available in early July. Stories will help Telegram profiles become more informative so you will not only be able to explore more content from your closest contacts, but finally discover more information about users you connect with in groups or channel comments.