Push-to-Talk Shortcuts. Set a preferred key to toggle your microphone in Telegram Desktop or Telegram for macOS.

Voice Chat Widget. Android users can enable a widget to control their microphone and see who’s talking even when Telegram is in the background.

Voice Chats. Telegram groups also support persistent voice and video chats, which members can join or leave at any time.

After joining, you’re free to move around the app and browse other chats – the microphone controls stay on screen to quickly mute or unmute yourself.

To also share your camera feed or screen, simply tap the camera icon.

Video Calls. Start a one-on-one video call with a user from their profile page for a little face-to-face communication.

You can switch your video on or off at any time, and are free to multitask in other chats – video calls support Picture-in-Picture mode.

All voice and video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. To confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on screen. If they match with your partner’s, your call is 100% secure.

Profile Videos. You can upload both photos and videos to your profile, showing off all your good sides.

Select a video from your gallery, edit or decorate it with the built-in tools, then drag across the timeline to select a frame for your static picture in chats.

Profile videos play when someone opens your profile – except for Premium users, whose videos animate throughout the app.

Profiles. Tapping the chat header opens a user’s profile. There you can see their profile pictures and bio, make a voice or video call – and access shared media.

From a user’s profile, you can modify notification settings and auto-delete, set a unique theme for the chat and more.

Groups and Channels have profiles as well – they’re called info pages.

People Nearby. If you’re looking to connect with people in your community, head over to Contacts > People Nearby to see adventurous Telegram users in your area.

You can join in by tapping Make Myself Visible, which adds your profile to the list so other users can send you a message.

If you’re no longer in the mood to mingle, tap Stop Showing Me at any time to remove yourself from the list.

Add people nearby. Quickly exchange contact info with Telegram users who are standing next to you (and also have this section open).

Timestamps. If you add a timestamp like 0:05 to a video caption or reply, it will be automatically highlighted as a link. Tapping on a timestamp will play the video from the right spot.

Timestamps are supported on Telegram videos and for messages with YouTube links, in case you want to mark your favorite moments.

Audio Playback Speeds. Tap to enable 2x playback speed for voice messages, podcasts and long audio files. Press and hold the 2x button to choose other speeds such as 0.5x and 1.5x.

Don’t worry if you don’t finish listening – your progress is automatically saved for later.

Multiple playback speeds are also available for videos in the media player and video messages.

Partial Selection. Any part of a message can be selected specifically and copied – making it easier to search and share.

On Android, press and hold to select a message, then hold again to select text.

Here's how it looks on iOS.

Media Editor: Custom Emoji. Every user can decorate photos and videos with custom emoji and Premium stickers – even if they don’t have Telegram Premium.

Custom emoji are also free for everyone to use in their Saved Messages, adding extra emotion or unique icons to notes and reminders.

Language Settings. The interface language of your app can be changed independently of your device’s system language.

More than 25 official languages are supported in Settings > Language – with dozens more available as shareable beta versions from the Translations Platform.

Hide Your Account. By default, your phone number is hidden to everyone but your contacts.

The only way for a user to see your profile is to know your phone number, username, or if they are in a group chat with you.

In your Privacy Settings, you can make your phone number visible to Nobody, which opens an extra setting: Who Can Find Me By My Number?

By setting Who Can Find Me to My Contacts, if anyone other than your contacts searches for your phone number, it will appear as if your account does not exist.

Autoplaying videos and auto-download settings. Smaller videos start playing without sound when they reach your screen. To unmute them, simply press the volume buttons on your device.

Automatic Media Download Settings put you in control of your data usage. It‘s easy to see your current settings at a glance and switch between Low, Medium and High presets for Mobile, Roaming and Wi-Fi.

You can also manually set up automatic downloads by chat type, media type and file size. The app will remember your choices as the Custom preset in case you need to temporarily switch to Low and back — or the other way around.

Multiple Accounts. Telegram's mobile and desktop apps let you stay logged in to 3 accounts – each with their own phone number.

Polls in Channels. Take a survey in your channel or group by opening the 📎 attachment menu and choosing ‘Poll’.

Polls are always anonymous in channels – and you can allow multiple answers for a range of responses or make a quiz-style poll to test your subscribers.

Pinned Messages. All Telegram chats support multiple pinned messages, so important info is always within reach. Tap the top bar to jump between messages or hit the button on the right side to see all pins on a separate page.

When pinning a message in a group, you have the option to send a notification to all group members, even if they have the chat muted.

Channel Comments. Channels with a linked Discussion Group have a comment button under each post, where both subscribers and visitors can share their thoughts.

Comments appear in their own separate threads, but also are posted in the discussion group to give admins and frequent participants a place to see every new comment in one place.

If you are not a member of the channel’s discussion group, notifications for replies to your comments are sent to a special chat called Replies.

Channels are a powerful tool for broadcasting messages to unlimited audiences.

Only admins are allowed to post updates, but you can add comments to engage with users – see @contest for example.

Channels are anonymous: posts show the name and photo of the channel, rather than the individual who posted them. The list of subscribers is also private and only visible to admins.

For dozens of other channel functions that couldn't fit here, check out our full guide.