Taking Back Our Right to Privacy

Unsending messages, anonymized forwarding, improved search and VoiceOver/TalkBack support

For us, your private data is sacred. We never use your data to target ads. We never disclose your data to third parties. We store only what is absolutely necessary for Telegram to work.

In 2013, we gave millions of people power over their data with end-to-end encryption.

Today, we are giving hundreds of millions of users complete control of any private conversation they have ever had. You can now choose to delete any message you have sent or received for both sides in any private chat. The messages will disappear for both you and the other person – without leaving a trace.

Unsend Anything

The “Unsend” feature we introduced 2 years ago was only available for messages sent by you and only for 48 hours. Now you can remove messages you have sent or received, and there is no time limit. You can also fully delete any private chat from both your and the other person's device in just two taps.

Anonymous Forwarding

To make your privacy complete, we’ve also introduced a way to restrict who can forward your messages. When this setting is enabled, messages you send that are forwarded by another user will no longer lead to your profile – instead they will show your display name in plain unlinked text. This way the messages you send can't be used to verify that you were their author.

You can enable this option in Settings > Privacy and Security > Forwarded Messages.

By the way, you can now also restrict who can view your profile photos.

Settings Search

Since the Settings section keeps getting bigger, we’ve added a search tool that allows you to quickly find the settings you're looking for.

You can also use this tool to find answers for Telegram-related questions based on our FAQ.

Emoji Search and GIFs

GIF and Sticker Search has been upgraded on all mobile platforms – with an updated interface that looks better (and finds more cats). You can press and hold to preview a GIF before sending.

Sticker packs now have unique icons, which makes it easier to select the right set. Large GIFs and video messages on Telegram are now streamed, so you can start watching them without waiting for them to fully download.

On Telegram for Android, you can now use keywords in many languages to find a specific emoji. If we are missing a keyword for an emoji, you’re welcome to suggest it here – emoji search results will constantly update and improve in real time, without the need to update your Telegram app.

You’ll also see a list of related emoji when typing a message. If you like an emoji enough to send it without any accompanying text, the emoji will appear larger in the chat.

VoiceOver and TalkBack

We’ve added support for screen-reading features – VoiceOver on iOS and TalkBack on Android. These accessibility platforms give spoken feedback so that you can use Telegram without needing to see the screen.