Now that Telegram Premium is here with us, it is the right time to go through what additional features you get with the subscription and weigh them to determine whether it is worth the monthly $4.99 you shell out for the experience.
Before we get started, it is worth noting that all features that were free will remain free, and none of them will be locked behind a paywall. The Premium subscription only adds extra features that did not exist before.
The first perk from the premium subscription is an increase in the upload limit. At the moment, Telegram users can only upload files with an upper limit of 2 GB. With a premium subscription, this limit gets doubled to 4 GB, which is a file size suitable for 1080p movies of decent quality.
The best thing is, that even those who do not pay for Premium can still download these large files uploaded by Premium users. In addition to being able to upload larger files, Premium users will enjoy faster download and upload speeds compared to regular users.
Doubled limits seem to be the selling point for a Premium subscription as this is what you get when it comes to groups and channels, pinned chats, public links and saved GIFs.
Therefore, a Premium subscription gives you the ability to join up to 1,000 groups and channels instead of 500 while 400 becomes the limit for saved GIFs instead of 200 for regular users.
A Premium user also gets the ability to create up to 20 chat folders, with each chat folder supporting up to 200 chats. This is in addition, to having the ability to add a fourth account to any Telegram app, pin 10 chats in the main list and save up to 10 favourite stickers.
Premium also lets you write a longer bio and include a link to it. Furthermore, you can also reserve up to 20 public t.me links, making any group or channel you create stand out with a short and concise link.
Other features include a built-in audio-to-text message converter, exclusive stickers and reactions, a new chat manager, animated profile pictures, custom app icons, and a profile badge to highlight who’s a Premium subscriber.
It goes without saying that Premium members will not be subjected to any ads. Note that ads are not available in all regions, although there are a few where the ads are shown in one-to-many channels.
Finally, public figures and organizations can verify their group, channel or bot. Verified accounts will receive a verification badge similar to the one used on Twitter to aid users to identify that the messages are coming from a confirmed source.
The free version of Telegram also gets some love, as public groups can now add a “Request to Join” button, giving the group admins the ability to review members before letting them write into the chat.
In terms of how Telegram introduces new features and updates, the company says that any new feature might first be tested on premium users before being introduced to everyone else further down the line.
