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Telegram is updating its messaging app with options to automatically delete messages, expiring invitation links, and unlimited new groups, the company shared in a blog post. Like Signal, Telegram received an explosion of new users in the confusion over WhatsApp’s privacy policy and now the company is embracing features that were already part of its competitors’ applications, features that offer more security and privacy.
Automatic message deletion was already possible in Telegram’s encrypted secret chats, but this new update for iOS and Android adds the option to make messages disappear in any type of chat. Automatic deletion can be enabled within chats and configured to delete 24 hours or seven days after messages are sent. However, automatic deletion will not delete all messages; If a message was sent before the function was activated, it will be kept. Telegram’s competitors have had similar characteristics: WhatsApp introduced a feature in 2020 and Signal has had messages disappear since at least 2016.
Telegram is also making changes to the groups that could allow for the kind of immediate and informative audio experiences that have become popular at Clubhouse. The new “Broadcast Groups” allow an unlimited number of members, but limit the creation of posts to group administrators so they can, well, broadcast. Voice chats, on the other hand, are open to everyone in a broadcast group, and Telegram believes the feature should be “ideal for large communities, where people can follow and watch exclusive interviews, news, or just casual chat.”
To help keep these groups exclusive (or grow them quickly), Telegram is adding expiring invite links that can be set to expire after a certain number of uses, a certain amount of time, or both. With the new invites, group admins should be better able to moderate who’s joining and keep the private topic a little more private.
Many users left WhatsApp for Telegram for fear that Facebook could read their messages. Expanding privacy features, such as automatic removal, seems like a good way for Telegram to address those concerns. But even with the new privacy options, Telegram still doesn’t universally offer a feature that many users have come to expect: end-to-end encryption.
All Telegram messages are technically encrypted, but secret chats are the only ones that can be viewed exclusively on the devices of the people who participate. It’s a difference that Telegram says enables features like the new streaming groups, but even with the automatic removal it could be a deal breaker for you.
You can see the full list of new features on the Telegram blog.
