Telegram has introduced a new power saving mode to save your device’s battery. The mode kicks in when the battery drops below a certain percentage — which is configurable — and disables resource-intensive features like auto-playing videos and GIFs, sticker animations, and background updates.
The new feature has its own menu in settings, which also has individual toggles for auto-playing videos, GIFs, sticker animations, emoji animations, interface effects, preloaded media, and background updates (iOS only). Users can disable it permanently to save battery life. The company said it has tested more than 200 Android phones and created “optimized defaults” for them.
Image Credits: Telegram
Notably, WhatsApp doesn’t have a power saving mode, but it has settings to disable automatic media downloads to save battery and storage.
In addition to the new battery saving mode, Telegram has also rolled out a video playback speed control in chat. You can choose default speeds such as 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, and 2x, or use the slider to choose a custom speed.
Image Credits: Telegram
In addition, Telegram is introducing an auto-invite group link feature. When you select people to join a group and they’re automatically unsubscribed, they’ll be sent an invite link.
In addition, Telegram is also pushing features such as message read time in groups of less than 100 members, new animated emojis and interactive comments, translated bot descriptions, and improved folder support on iOS.
These features are rolling out to all users with the latest Telegram update.
Last year, Telegram launched a premium subscription for $5 a month in June with features like exclusive stickers and comments, and the ability to upload large files. In December, the company said it had crossed the 1 million paying user mark.