Those unlockable Telegram features that appeared in the beta version of the app in May will soon be available to paying users. Telegram founder Pavel Durov has confirmed that the app will launch a subscription called Telegram Premium sometime this month. While Durov hasn’t discussed the specific benefits of the plan, he said it will give paying users additional features, speed and resources, as well as first access to the app’s latest offerings.
Durov explained that many people have asked the service to increase the limits on chats, media and file uploads. However, doing this for everyone would result in huge traffic and server costs beyond what it could afford. Telegram apparently came to the conclusion that the only way it could give its “most discerning fans” more while keeping its existing features for free is to offer those increased limits as a paid option.
The founder of the service has also assured users in his announcement that Telegram will still release new free features despite being on a paid tier. Furthermore, even free users will be able to enjoy some of the new future features of the Premium option, including the ability to view larger documents, media, and stickers sent by paying members. An earlier report from the tech publication Beebom says Premium subscribers will have the option to upload files up to 4 GB in size and enjoy up to twice the limit of non-paying users when it comes to the number of channels they can join, under Others . Beebom also says that a Premium plan will cost $5 per month, although we won’t know for sure until the option launches.
Durov ended his announcement with:
“While our experiments with privacy-focused advertising in public one-to-many channels have been more successful than we expected, I believe that Telegram should be funded primarily by its users, not advertisers. way, our users will always remain our number one priority.”
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