Telegram is gearing up to add one of the most, if not the most requested features. Next month, Telegram will release Stories. The social media company says more than half of all feature requests it receives from users are related to Stories. And although Telegram was against this idea at first because “Stories are already everywhere,” the company eventually decided to do something about it, as listening to user feedback is in its DNA.
Telegram appears to have found a compromise and will be releasing this feature interpreted its own way. Quite literally, the company says Stories is coming to the messaging app “in the Telegram way.” And to give us a taste of what's to come, the company says Stories in Telegram will focus on several key features, such as:
- Privacy: Telegram users will have the option to define “with granular precision” who views stories: everyone, only contacts (with exceptions), a few selected contacts, or a list of Close Friends.
- Compact UI: Telegram Stories will be located at the top of the chat list for easy access.
- Flexibility: Users will be able to hide Stories posted by any contact to keep their UIs clean.
- Captions: Telegram Stories will not only offer photo and video-editing tools, but also captions that help creators add more context, links, or tags.
- Dual Camera Support: Stories will support adding photos and videos captured with the front and rear cameras simultaneously.
- Optional Ephemerality: Users will be able to set an optional expiration date for stories between 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours.
When will Telegram Stories go live?
In addition to the points listed above, Telegram says it has even “more surprises” in store for users. But they'll be revealed later.
Telegram CEO Du Rove says the company tested the Stories feature, and it's been a great success. “Even the skeptics on our team started to appreciate this feature.”
As to when we'll be able to create and view Stories on our Samsung devices, the CEO says they're in the last testing phase, and Stories should be available in early July. So, before Samsung's Unpacked event.
