Telegram is a solid cross-platform messaging app with unlimited features, tips and tricks. It is also one of the best alternatives to WhatsApp. Telegram is often similar to other messaging apps, however, it offers tons of extra features that none of them have. For instance, you can create a group on Telegram of 200,000 people, create channels, self-destruct feature, and many more. In today’s article, I will show the 25 best Telegram tips and tricks you should know.
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Here are the 25 Best Telegram Tips and Tricks:
1. Create a Username
You can create a username on Telegram for yourself that let other people find you quickly. This way you can share your on other social media platforms and connect with your friends without sharing your mobile number. To create your username on Telegram, open the Telegram app on your smartphone, then go to Settings by tapping on the hamburger icon. Tap on Pick a username option. Lastly, tap enter key to confirm the username. You’ve successfully created a username on your Telegram account. Now you can share your Telegram link with your friends on social media platforms.
2. Organize Chat into Folders
If you are following hundreds of groups or channels on Telegram, it can quickly become a mess on your home feed with so many individual chats along with channels, and groups. In this case, you can use this Telegram feature to organize individual chats, groups, and channels into folders. To do that, open the Telegram app on your smartphone. Go to Settings from the hamburger icon. Select the Chat folders option. Tap on Create new folder. Enter the Folder name on the top. Tap on Add Chats. Select the option that you want to add in this folder. Then, tap on the Blue tick button from the bottom right corner. Lastly, hit the Save option on the top right corner. With Telegram Premium, you can create as many as 20 folders.
3. In-App Preview
It is a very useful privacy feature on Telegram. It lets you see messages without marking it has read. This feature works for both individual and group chats. You can turn on/off this feature from Settings > Notification and Sounds > In-App Preview.
4. Auto Night Mode
You can enable the Auto night mode feature in Telegram if you like to enable the night mode feature automatically at night. To do this, open the Telegram app on your smartphone > tap on the hamburger icon from the left, and go to Settings. Tap on Chat Settings. Scroll down and tap on Auto Night Mode option. Select Adaptive if you want to enable night mode at nights automatically. Moreover, you can choose the Scheduled option and set your own timer.
5. Change App Icon
If you don’t like the classic Telegram app icon, you can change it to a little fancier one. From Telegram Settings, open Chat Settings > Scroll down, select any one app icon in the App icon section. To unlock more icons, you’ll need to purchase a Telegram premium subscription.
6. Telegram Secret Chat
Telegram does not have end-to-end encryption enabled by default. But, you can enable it by creating a secret chat. While enabled, it uses end-to-end encryption, leaves no traces on Telegram servers, has a self-destruct timer, and does not allow forwarding messages. To start a secret chat, open Telegram contacts from the hamburger icon. Choose a contact you want to enable secret chat. Tap on the profile name at the top. Then, tap on three vertical dots. Now tap on Start Secret Chat. Lastly, tap Start. To start the chat, both person (you and your friend) should be online at the same time.
7. Self-Destruct Messages
Self-destruct is a feature that allows you to automatically delete messages from both ends (Sender & receiver). Currently, it works only in secret chats. You can enable this feature on your secret chats by tapping on the Profile icon> then, enabling Self-Destruct Timer. Just set the timer at which messages will get deleted. You can set between 1 second to the 1-week timer.
8. Change Themes and Text Color
Unlike other messaging apps which offer only two themes (dark & light) in their UI, Telegram gives you multiple options for themes as well as allows you to change text color and design. Along with that, you can also change chat backgrounds, switch to night mode, create your own theme, and more. To do this, go to Chat Settings > Select a theme under the color theme section.
9. In-Built Image and Video Editor
Telegram features an inbuilt tool to edit your photos and videos, so you don’t rely on third-party photo editing apps. It includes features crop, cool stickers, texts, exposure, contrast, radial effects, and more. You can access the tool while sending a photo or video to your friends.
10. Lock Telegram App
It’s another security feature in Telegram that lets you lock your chats with a password and fingerprint. It is the best way to secure your messages from other users. To enable passcode, Open Telegram app > go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Tap on Passcode Lock under security tab > Create a Passcode. Also, enable the ‘Unlock with Fingerprint’ option. Now you’ll have to enter the passcode or verify the fingerprint to access Telegram app.
11. Two-Step Verification
Two-step verification enables a double security authentication service. When two-step verification is enabled, it asks you to enter a password along with OTP verification when login with your Telegram account on a new device. To set up two-step verification on Telegram, go to Privacy and Security > Two-Step verification. Here’s a complete guide on How to Enable Two-Step Verification on Telegram.
12. Telegram Bots
Bots are super useful tools in Telegram. With the help of bots, you can enable automation in your chats, and perform some cool tasks such as “@newfileconverterbot” is Telegram bot that can convert pretty much convert any file format into another. Similarly, there are thousands of bots available that you can use and make your life easier. Some of the most popular ones are @stickers @vide @gif @githubbot @DropMailBot @BabelgramBot and more. To access these bots, you just need to tap on the search icon on the top right and type @yourbotname.
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Best Telegram Tips and Tricks: Continued
13. Change Phone Number
If you have lost or changed your Telegram phone number, you can update (change) the latest phone number on Telegram. To do that, just open Telegram Settings > tap on the phone number under the account section. Tap on the Change Number option. Enter the new phone number and update it.
14. Saved Important Messages
You can save your important messages into a folder name called Saved messages. In that way, you can access your important messages very quickly. To do that, simply open a chat. Select a message from your chat that you want to save. Then, click on the forward icon on the top and click on Saved messages. That’s it. It will create a new chat “Saved Messages”, from there you can access all your saved messages.
15. Auto-Delete the Message After a Time
Auto-delete is a very similar feature to Self-destruct feature in Telegram. The auto-delete feature is available for every single chat whereas Self-destruct only works in secret chat mode. To auto-delete messages, open a Telegram chat > tap on the profile icon > tap three vertical dots > tap auto-delete > and set the time.
16. Create Channels
With the help of Telegram channels, you can broadcast and share your messages with millions of people at once. A channel can have unlimited subscribers. To create a Telegram channel, tap on the Blue Pencil button in the bottom right corner. Then, select New Channel. Give it a catchy name and description. Then, select the privacy of your channel whether you want to keep it private or public. Type the link to access your channel via the Telegram link. Now, add members and click on the done button in the bottom right corner. And, that’s it.
17. Edit your Sent Message
There are only a few messaging apps that let you edit and recorrect a message after sending it to your friends or family. However, you can only edit messages sent within the last 48 hours. To use this feature, long press on a message that you want to edit, then click on the edit/pencil icon on the top, edit the message and click send. An ‘edited’ caption will be added at the left of your edited message.
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18. Delete Sent Message
Similar to edit your sent messages, this feature will let you delete message/s from both ends (sender and receiver). You can use this feature when you send a wrong message to the wrong person. To do so, just long-press on a message, tap the delete icon from the top, then select the “Also delete for user” option and tap Delete.
19. Search Nearby Telegram Users
If you don’t have any friends, you can use the search nearby feature to find other Telegram users nearby you. You can also send messages and chat with them. Though you won’t access their mobile numbers. To find nearby users, tap on the hamburger icon from the top left. Tap on People nearby. Allow the location permission and it will show you the people nearby you. You can also make yourself visible on this list by enabling the option “Make Myself Visible”.
20. Send a Message Without Making Sound
There’s no doubt that Telegram is the most feature-packed messaging app than any other social media app. Among so many cool features, send a message without sound is one of them. You can use this feature to send message/s without making a sound on the receiver’s smartphone. To send a message without sound, simply open a chat > type a message > long press on send button > choose “send without sound”. Use this feature if you don’t want the receiver to disturb by notification.
21. Create A Poll in a Group
You can create a poll for a quiz or survey on telegram groups or channels. To do this, open the group or channel conversation area. Tap on the Poll option. Type your question and add options to choose. You can add as many options as you want. Enable anonymous voting if you want. Along with that, you can also enable the Multiple Answers option and quiz mode option. Lastly, tap on Create from the top right corner. That’s it.
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22. Send Photos Without Compressing
Unlike other messaging apps, Telegram gives you a separate option to send uncompressed images and not send as a document option like in WhatsApp. To do that, you just need to open the chat, select a photo, long tap on send button, and tap on Send without compression. You can do the same thing for video files as well.
23. Stop Auto Media Downloading
If you have limited internet data, then you should disable this feature. It prevents files such as photos, videos, and documents from auto-downloading and saves your internet data. Open Telegram Settings from the hamburger icon. Then, tap on Data and Storage option. Disable all the options under the Automatic Media Download section.
24. Stop Auto Media Play
It’s another data saver feature that you can enable to save your internet data. If you don’t know, Telegram automatically plays videos whenever someone sends you in a chat, which takes a good chunk of internet data. To prevent it, open Telegram > Settings > Data & Storage > Turn off these two options (GIFs and Videos) under Autoplay Media section.
25. Keep Telegram Alive
Telegram’s Keep-alive feature lets the Telegram app run in the background even when you clear it from recent apps. Similar to auto-start apps, it will automatically start in the background and you will be able to receive message notifications. However, it takes some resources of your device RAM, You can enable/disable this feature from Telegram > Settings > Notifications and Sound > Toggle to turn on/off the Keep-Alive service.
Bottom Line
I hope you like these 25 best Telegram tips and tricks. We will keep you updated with the latest updates on Telegram. Make sure to follow us on our social media platforms as well as Google news publication.
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