The privacy-focused social media platform is now working on a new subscription-based project called Telegram Premium.
The Telegram founder said that the app is preparing to launch a paid subscription plan for its users this month.
And unlike Meta-owned social media platforms, Telegram is completely free. The app has not been officially monetized, although the company has been exploring ad support such as sponsored messages in public channels.
Pavel Durov explained in a blog post that users who choose Telegram Premium get an upper limit for chats, media and file downloads.
"The only way to allow our most demanding fans to get more while keeping our existing features free is to make these higher limits a paid option," he said.
Telegram is one of the best cross-platform messaging apps and is updated regularly with new features. The application, along with the messaging tool Signal, saw an increase in the number of users after privacy concerns with the biggest competitor WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta.
The encrypted messaging app currently has 500 million monthly active users and is one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the world, according to its website.
Our experiments with privacy-focused ads in individual public channels have been more successful than we expected, Durov said. But I think the app should be funded primarily by its users, not the advertisers. This way our users always remain our main priority.
Durov confirmed in 2021 that the app was exploring new ways to place ads in public channel posts. According to the company, demo ads are small posts with a maximum of 160 characters only, and will not include external links. But the ads have a link to a specific channel.
Telegram Premium is now official
In addition to the official announcements in the messaging app, Telegram is also introducing a new premium subscription to the messaging app. The company plans to launch a subscription platform that should start at $4.99 and reduce the messaging app's limitations.
The Telegram channel, which tracks new features coming to the platform, shared a list of the upcoming expected changes:
Double the limits.
4 GB download size.
Higher download speed.
Convert audio to text.
There are no ads.
Unique interactions.
Featured stickers.
Advanced chat management.
Profile badge.
Animated avatars.
Additional application icons.
The Telegram Premium plan is in the beta version for Android. However, you cannot subscribe to the service at this time.
All existing features remain free for users. There are new features coming to the free subscription in the future.
Furthermore, Durov said: A Premium subscription allows anyone to get additional features, speed, and resources. It also allows users to support the app and join the club that receives new features first. Even users who do not subscribe to Premium are able to indirectly enjoy some of its features, such as viewing very large documents, media and posters sent by Premium users, or clicking to add Premium interactions pinned via a message to reply to them in the same way.