New Desktop Telegram Version Released

Telegram Messenger has released the version 1.0 update of its universal desktop application, Telegram Desktop. The app had been available for a while but this is the first stable release and it comes with a new user interface.

Telegram is the most used mobile and desktop messaging system in Iran. The app came to prominence in 2014 due to its range of features including channels and groups, GSM Arena writes.

Common across all three versions (mobile, virtual and desktop) is the use of Material Design. This doesn’t really make the app look at home on any of the support desktop operating systems but at least Material Design is mostly unobtrusive and inoffensive.

The app also has support for themes and users can join Telegram’s Theme Channel to get some of the alternative options.

Apart from that, the functionality is consistent with all the other Telegram apps, including syncing of all messages and support for stickers, gifs, bots and all sorts of things.

New to this version, users can even start typing on their phone and continue on the desktop because the apps sync typed text with different platforms.

For Mac users, there is already an official Telegram app available on the Mac App Store that actually has native macOS UI design and features.

The app may change for that platform, but Telegram insists the new Telegram Desktop is the one to get.

For now the two seem similar in functionality (except for the presence of themes on the new app) so if users want to retain the native look and feel of the older app then they can probably keep using it as long as it works.

Several local messaging apps have been created to compete with Telegram, but few if any Iranian Internet users have shown interest in the local competition. This is reportedly because they feel personal information may be at risk with the local apps.   

Local data released in early January shows that the Telegram Messenger now has 170,000 Persian channels, 11,000 of which have more than 5,000 members. An estimated 45 million Iranians actively use the app. However, some owners of certain channels which post Persian language content do not reside in Iran.