Channel Appearance, Posts in Stories and More

In Telegram's Christmas update, channels can set wallpapers, emoji statuses and profile logos, users can repost channel messages to stories, Telegram Premium can be given to multiple people at once, giveways can include additional prizes, and more.

Customize Channel Appearance

Channels are now able to customize their appearance as they gain levels thanks to boosts from subscribers or giveaways.

In addition to the color of their messages, channel owners can now choose a color and logo for their profile cover, set an emoji status and a wallpaper that will be visible to all who open the channel.

For their emoji status, channels can choose from the thousands of emoji made by Telegram artists, adding anything from an animated snowman to a cryptic hotdog next to the channel name.

To customize your channel, open its profile and select Channel Settings > Appearance.

The channel's level determines which appearance settings are available. Levels also enable channels to post stories and add custom reactions.

Share Posts in Stories

Messages from channels can now be reposted to stories. This adds a copy of the message, which you can move, resize and decorate. Anyone who views your story can simply tap to open the message in its channel.

Reposts support all message types – like photos, files and even voice or video messages. In the coming updates, reposts to stories will get additional features, like interactive polls.

To repost a message, tap the Share Arrow next to the message and select 'Repost to Story'.

Massive Premium Gifts

To congratulate your friends, you can now gift Telegram Premium to multiple people at once – and take care of this year's Christmas gifts in record time.

In Settings there is a new 'Gift Premium' section, where you can select up to 10 users and give them Telegram Premium in one tap. If one of those users already has Premium, they can save the gift to activate later or send it to a friend.

Premium can also be gifted to individual users from their Profile > ⋮ / ⋯ > Gift Premium.

Custom Prizes and Winner Lists in Giveaways

Channels hosting giveaways can now set a longer duration and specify additional prizes – to raffle off everything from burritos to Bugattis.

For even more transparency, giveaway hosts can toggle 'Show Winners' to announce the accounts that won. If this is enabled, the lucky winners are announced in a new confetti-filled message.

Telegram randomly selects the winners and automatically distributes Telegram Premium gift codes. Channel admins are responsible for delivering any additional prizes they wish to include.

View Reposts and More

Users can already see who viewed their story and how they reacted – and channels get detailed statistics to track how their stories perform.

With this update, channel admins can now view reactions to their stories and both users and channels can see who reposted their stories.

Photo Cutouts for Stories

Photos from your gallery can be placed on top of stories – and now you can remove the background from images of your pets, friends and legendary artifacts.

To add a photo to a story, open the sticker panel in stories and tap the photo icon. Then select the photo, tap > in the menu and 'Cut Out' to erase its background. This feature requires iOS 17+ or Android 7+ with Google Play Services installed.

That's all for today's update – we'll try to fit more new features into the chimney before this year is out.

Happy Winter Holidays!

December 23, 2023
The Telegram Team