WhatsApp competitor Telegram updates the app with some nice improvements. This way you can now send silent messages that do not disturb the other person. We show how it works.
Telegram adds silent messages and silent mode
The latest Telegram update seems to be made for people who are annoyed by an excessive amount of messages. With two new functions it is now possible to receive messages without the app playing a sound. You can also set a limit in group conversations so that group members have to wait a certain amount of time before they can speak again.
The new ‘Silent Message’ feature does exactly what its name implies: it sends messages without sound, regardless of whether or not the recipient has their iPhone sound on. The recipient will receive a notification, but without a sound. Handy if you want to send someone something, but it is not so important that you want to distract the person.
Silent Mode, the second new function, is a godsend for group conversations in which the messages fly around you. From now on, the admin of a group can activate this mode. Once this happens, you will only be able to send a message with an interval of 30 seconds or any other time that the admin sets. This should be especially useful for large Telegram groups, where sometimes thousands of people participate at the same time.
You activate this silent mode as follows:
- As admin, tap the name of the group;
- Tap ‘Info’;
- Now tap on ‘Edit’ in the top right corner;
- Now choose ‘Permissions’;
- Scroll down and set a tempo limit.
Finally, there are some new options to give the dark mode a new look. From now on you can choose the accent color yourself, so that the app looks exactly the way you want. Also nice: if you now send certain emoji, a large animated version will appear in the chat window. This only works for the heart, thumb, meh, wow, and party emoji for now.
Update now available on the App Store
The update for Telegram is now available for iOS. Telegram is a free messaging app that has its own apps on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
That makes it an interesting alternative to WhatsApp, although you will have to persuade your contacts to also make the switch to Telegram in order to take advantage of it.