Telegram messenger has privacy and interoperability at its core. The company takes pride in letting users take decisions about the degree of privacy they want with their chats and this is improving a bit further with the new update. Telegram is getting a bunch of new features to allow its users greater control over the privacy of their chats, giving them the liberty to revoke or unsend messages without any constraints in terms of time. With this, users can also wipe complete Telegram chats in just two simple steps.
With the Telegram 5.5 update, messages - both sent and received messages by a user - can now be unsent i.e. removed from the chat. Earlier, this was limited to the messages sent from your end but now, it works for both users. Moreover, the 48-hour limit to unsend messages has now been revoked and you now can withdraw your or the other person's messages at any time. Apart from this, the "Clear History" feature now lets you wipe the entire messages history for both users in a conversation.
The update also brings anonymous forwarding, using which you can restrict who accesses your profile from forwarded messages. Even though other users will see your name as a clickable link on the forwarded message, they will only be able to view your profile or message you on Telegram if you have enabled the setting. To change who can view your profile or pictures, go to "Privacy and Security" in Settings and then to "Forwarded Messages". Here you can choose who can add a link to your profile in forwarded messages.
Additionally, you can now choose who can see your Telegram profile picture. You can either set it to visible for everybody or just your contacts, with the option to add exceptions or block unwanted users as per your preference.
Another nifty addition which the latest update brings is the feature to search settings. This will allow users to jump directly to the setting they wish to access, without having to rummage through sub-menus to find the right one. Apart from settings, the search result will also link suitable FAQs to help you muster more about the various features in the Telegram messenger.
Telegram 5.5 also brings new ways to find the best emoji, sticker, or GIF to express yourself better. The emoji search is claimed to be improved and you should now be able to search for emoji by typing keywords in languages other than English. The feature is currently limited but you can add your suggestions to Telegram's emoji reference database.
Aside from searching for the right emoji, Telegram also lets you preview GIFs before sending them by long-pressing on any of the search results. Besides that, larger GIFs and videos are now streamed so you wouldn't have to wait to view them until they're completely downloaded. Further, if you're interested in choosing the best sticker, sticker packs now come with large icons which can look up for the most appropriate sticker. Another easy trick to find the right sticker is by typing an emoji and Telegram will suggest you stickers which match in terms of expressions and the intended use of the sticker.
Lastly, Telegram now supports accessibility features like TalkBack on Android. It allows users with limited or hampered vision to interact with the different features in the messenger via voice commentary.