Today we are adding several long-awaited features in one epic update to our Android and iOS apps.

Places

When sharing a location, you can now choose venues and landmarks. And when viewing a location, you can get directions. The section was also beautifully redesigned.

Photo Captions

Another thing Telegram was lacking – captions for photos. You can now add them to any picture you send, just tap the T in the photo editing panel.

New Voice Messages

You can now see whether the recipient has listened to your voice message — and keep track of which ones you've listened to yourself. Voice messages that have not been played yet are now marked with a small dot.

Smart Notifications

Tired of buzzing notifications from active group chats? Sick of multiple notifications every time somebody forwards you a dozen messages? Getting notifications on mobile while chatting with the same person from your desktop? Fixed! Starting today, you will be notified only when it is necessary.

Rich link previews

As promised, link previews now work for almost any news site — in addition to previews for the most popular services like YouTube and Twitter.

Android Goodies

Telegram for Android joins the iOS app in showing extended ‘typing’ statuses: you can now see when your chat partner is sending you a photo or recording a voice message. Scrolling and photo animations have become smoother than ever.

Last but not least, we've fully redesigned the emoji menu on Android so that it now features a dedicated stickers tab. This is the first drumbeat of the stickers revolution that is coming to Telegram soon.

Invite Links for Groups

OK, this feature is so awesome that it deserves a separate post.

The Telegram Team,
April 30, 2015