Local Transcription on iOS

“Durov's Code” editors noticed (in Russian) you can use voice recognition engine from Apple on Telegram for iOS.

The feature has appeared in the June update together with Telegram Premium and is intended for testing.

By default, your speech is turned into text on Google Cloud server on your demand. Google's technology is used by Telegram to provide a high-quality service in many languages.

The Local Transcription option uses Apple's engine built into your iPhone or iPad. This way, the feature turns audio into text right on your device without sending data to Apple servers.

Apple's engine has lower recognition quality compared to Google's cloud recognition, especially in less popular languages. It also can't recognize longer messages, yet it works faster.

It makes sense to enable the option only if you need faster recognition at the price of getting a lower quality transcription, or if you have no Internet. The feature is unavailable without Telegram Premium and doesn't work in Secret Chats.

No need to be afraid of Google Cloud's voice recognition: despite of a lot of concerns, the company is not interested in Telegram users' messages. The agreements Google signs with other businesses to provide its Cloud services have an extremely strict privacy policy, so your voice messages are sent from Telegram's servers directly only to be transcribed once. You can read in more detail about why Google doesn't want Telegram users' voice messages in “Durov's Code” article (in Russian).

How to enable Local Transcription in Telegram for iOS
• Quickly tap the Settings icon 10 times in a row (or your profile picture if you have multiple accounts).
• The Debug menu will open. Find Local Transcription toggle and turn it on. We do not recommend you changing any other options in this menu.

Telegram user data disclosure policy in Germany

Users in Germany received a message from Telegram's service account. The messenger team decided to find out whether German users support the app's current Privacy Policy and whether they want to reduce or increase the number of times Telegram could potentially disclose data to the country's authorities, including the police.

“However, to prevent terrorist groups from misusing our platform, our Privacy Policy in place since 2018 allows us to disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of suspected terrorists at the request of the government, supported by a court order,” the messenger team reminds.

To find out the opinion of the users Telegram decided to open survey, in which only users with German phone numbers can take part. Three different options were given to choose from:

OPTION 1: No change. Telegram will still be allowed to hand over the IP addresses and phone numbers of suspected terrorists only on the basis of a court decision. This option is already included in Telegram's current Privacy Policy.

OPTION 2: At the request of German police authorities, Telegram may disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of suspected users, even if not confirmed by a court decision. This option, if approved, would be entirely new for Telegram and would therefore require changes to our Privacy Policy for German users.

OPTION 3: Telegram is not allowed to share user information under any circumstances, including the IP addresses and phone numbers of suspected terrorists. If this option is chosen, Telegram would change its data structure and Privacy Policy for German users.

The poll is active until 5th of September, 10:00 UTC.
It was previously reported that the German government had agreed with Telegram executives to further cooperate and continue to exchange views.

#Germany

Custom Emoji are live on WebK – view only at the moment, making all related "unsupported message" entities gone for you. The Redesigned ESG (aka Emoji • Stickers • GIFs) panel is coming within the next several days.

What to expect from the upcoming version of Telegram for Android

Yesterday a new beta version of Telegram for Android was released, it includes the following new features:

— Profile Status: custom emojis in profile
— Custom Reactions and react to the same message multiple times 
— Updated reactions settings in groups
— Themed Icon
— Prioritizing Downloads
— New Media Browsing Animations
— Premium Badge in Chats
— Copying Custom Emojis

Detailed descriptions of the listed features are at Beta Info.

#Android

Is that zoom in/zoom out effect on pictures in chat also new?

Yes

#new multiple reactions upto 3 by same person

Nothing has changed?
I still can react to group's messages w/o being in the group

Maybe because you are restricted from sending messages here

Or maybe because all reactions are disabled in the chat

The feature you are looking for, IMe have added it on their new update now you can do anything like promote, ban, check user messages etc…. Via Chat list

#new emoji status