A month after the original announcement, Telegram’The Stories feature is now rolling out to users. According to the company, only Premium subscribers can “currently” after Stories. All Telegram users can see those temporary, auto-expiring photo and video statuses.
Stories appear to be available with Telegram version 9.7.0 for Android. The latest update to the app adds a + button at the top of your chat list. Tapping this button allows you to post a story, Telegram allows you to add captions and links and also tag other users. You get a host of photo and video editing tools to style your stories.
While you can use pre-made photos and videos in your Stories, Telegram also lets you record live videos using the front and back cameras. Depending on your setting, your Story will expire after 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours. However, you can also make Stories permanent. You must manually select which Stories will appear permanently on your profile page. Telegram gives you individual privacy settings for each.
Speaking of privacy, Telegram offers a range of privacy settings for your stories. You can choose to make a Story public or only make it visible to your contacts, selected contacts, or close friends. The “My Stories” section at the top of the left hamburger menu is where you’ll find your stories. Telegram offers two separate tabs here: Saved and Archive. The last tab lets you choose Stories you want to make permanent.
Only Telegram Premium users can currently post Stories
For viewers, Stories appear in an expandable section at the top of the chat list. Again, you get control over the Stories you see. If you don’t want to see those updates from a particular user, you can simply block or hide them. As said before, all Telegram users can now see Stories posted by other users. But only those with a Premium subscription can post Stories, at least for now.
It’s unclear when Telegram will provide this capability for free users. Meanwhile, if you’re willing to pay the company for this feature, the $4.99 per month plan will get you a lot more. Telegram Premium offers larger file uploads (up to 4 GB), faster downloads, transcripts, up to 20 public t.me links, premium badges, custom app icons, an ad-free experience, and a host of other benefits. You can click the button below to download the latest Telegram update.