The debut of Telegram’s paid option is getting closer and closer, with the well-known messaging app that is slowly introducing new pieces to distinguish what will be possible to do with the free basic plan compared to the optional Premium one.
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To date, by downloading the Telegram app (for example at the current release for Android, numbered 8.7.4), you are greeted by a reassuring message that emphasizes its free use (“Telegram is free forever. No advertising. No subscription costs “). A reverse engineering analysis of a version of Pavel Durov’s messaging, however, made it possible to ascertain how this status of things is destined to change.
The analysis of a Telegram iteration conducted by the feature tracker Alessandro Paluzzi made it possible to ascertain the presence, among the programming strings hidden under the user interface visible to all, of some references to the fact that “Telegram provides unlimited cloud storage space free for chat and media “. At the moment, this reassuring message, being prepared in the face of a future paid option, does not appear when the app is opened, but it is not excluded that it may do so in one of the next updates.
In this regard, from 2020 the management staff of Telegram talks about projects to monetize the application: in recent weeks, from the analysis of a beta for Telegram for iOS, the first concrete references to a version of Telegram Premium emerged, an option not mandatory for the messaging note which, if signed, would have given the ease of obtaining particular benefits that are inaccessible to free users.
Specifically, on that occasion it emerged how Telegram Premium would for example have offered a star-shaped badge, which can be affixed to the top of the chats or on your profile, aimed at reiterating the fact that you are a premium user. As such, the subscriber to the Telegram Premium plan may also be entitled to particular Reactions and exclusive stickers, with other details on any additional functional bonuses, perhaps currently being processed in favor of subscribers, which have not emerged.
Like any additional functions regarding Telegram Premium, to date the rates of the subscription in question are not known: what is certain is that, if you are satisfied with the basic functions, Telegram will effectively remain free forever. Perhaps.