Telegram Launches Stories Feature Exclusively for Premium Users

Telegram has fulfilled its promise by introducing the highly-anticipated Stories feature, but for now, it is exclusively available to Premium users, Engadget reports.

Last month, Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, unveiled this upcoming feature, which offers greater control than Stories found in other apps.

With this new addition, users can determine who can view their Stories and set the duration before they vanish.

Similar to Facebook’s Messenger, Telegram’s Stories appear as expandable bubbles at the top of the conversation list.

Premium users can choose from various viewing options, including public visibility, contacts only (with exceptions), selected contacts, or Close Friends.

You think I’d forget that? There’s a + button at the top of your chat list for posting Stories. Currently, only Premium users are able to post Stories.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram)

July 21, 2023

Additionally, users can enrich their Stories with captions, links, and tags of others. The feature allows for sharing photos and videos captured by both front and rear cameras simultaneously, a feature reminiscent of BeReal posts.

Telegram also provides flexibility for users who prefer not to see posts from certain contacts; they can move these contacts to the “Hidden” list in their contacts section. Moreover, users have control over the expiry time of their Stories.

While the standard option of 24-hour expiration is available, Telegram also offers additional choices, such as 6, 12, or 48 hours.

Interestingly, Stories can even be displayed permanently on a user’s profile page, all while maintaining personalized privacy settings for each post.

Telegram Stories 😎@telegram @telegram_it pic.twitter.com/B4H8pstS9J

— Alessandro Antonucci (@techworldaleant)

July 20, 2023

As for viewing Stories, anyone can see them, and users can react to and reply to the content. However, posting Stories requires a Telegram Premium subscription.

To access this feature, users need the latest version of Telegram, though it may not have rolled out to all regions yet.

The Premium subscription, priced at US $4.99 per month, unlocks various benefits, including 4GB uploads, faster downloads, unique stickers, voice-to-text transcriptions, and double the follow limits.