The popular secure messaging service Telegram has hit the 700 million monthly active users mark, up from 500 million it had in January 2021.
The company has also announced its premium (paid) plan, which is available for £4.99, $4.99 or €5.49, offering additional and improved features to the messaging app. One of the features enables users to send files as large as 4 GB (up from 2 GB) and benefit from faster downloads.
In addition, paying customers will be able to follow up to 1,000 channels, up from 500 offered to free users, and create up to 20 chat folders with as many as 200 chats in each. Also, they will be able to add up to four accounts in the app and pin up to 10 chats.
Furthermore, there is the option to convert voice messages into texts, access exclusive stickers and reactions and use animated pictures as profile photos.
The move, according to the company, is to keep growing “driven primarily by its users, not advertisers.” It also marks the first instant messaging app with hundreds of millions of users that have rolled out a premium tier. In contrast – Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple’s Messages and Google’s Messages don’t offer a premium tier.
“After giving it some thought, we realized that the only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option,” said Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov.
Previously, Telegram attempted to launch a blockchain project, but after several delays and regulatory troubles – it had abandoned the idea and offered to return the $1.2 billion it had raised from investors.
In March 2021, Telegram raised over $1 billion from a number of investors including Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners by selling 5-year pre-IPO convertible bonds.
“Today is an important day in the history of Telegram — marking not only a new milestone but also the beginning of Telegram’s sustainable monetization,” the firm said in a blog post.
Nevertheless, a number of core features in the app will remain free to users.
We like how Telegram has managed to pull this off and are hoping to see its rivals doing the same. As the saying goes, if the product is free – you are the product. In that sense, if you are really serious about your privacy, you will be using a secure messaging service like Telegram. Along with a VPN, of course. 😉