Telegram will soon let you delete sent messages, more

Telegram today announced a privacy-focussed update which delivers two major new features – the ability to “unsend” or remotely delete messages sent to others, and the ability to forward messages anonymously.

Telegram details the features as below:

Unsend Anything

The “Unsend” feature introduced 2 years ago worked only for messages sent by you and only for 48 hours. Now you can “unsend” messages you have received as well, and there is no time limit. You can also delete any private chat entirely from both your and the other person’s device with just two taps.

Anonymous Forwarding

To make your privacy complete, Telegram also introduced a way to restrict who can forward your messages. When this setting is enabled, your forwarded messages will no longer lead back to your account — they’ll just display an unclickable name in the “from” field. This way people you chat with will have no verifiable proof you ever sent them anything.

Look for “Forwarded messages” in Privacy and Security settings. Telegram users you can now also restrict who can view their profile photos.

The update also brings some minor features:

Settings Search

Since the Settings section keeps getting bigger, Telegram added a search tool that allows users to quickly find any settings they need.

This new search tool in Settings also shows answers to any Telegram-related questions based on the FAQ:

Emoji Search and GIFs

The GIF and stickers search has been upgraded on all mobile platforms – it now looks better and finds more cats. Any GIF you find can be previewed by tapping and holding. Sticker packs now have icons, which makes selecting the right pack easier. Large GIFs and video messages on Telegram are now streamed, so you can start watching them without waiting for the download to complete.

On Telegram for Android, you can now use keywords in many languages to find any emoji. Emoji search will constantly be improving without the need to update Telegram.

You’ll also see a list of related emoji when typing a message. If you like an emoji enough to send it without any accompanying text, the emoji will appear larger in the chat on Android (iOS coming soon).

VoiceOver and TalkBack

Telegram added support for accessibility features – VoiceOver on iOS and TalkBack on Android. These gesture-based technologies give you spoken feedback so that you can use Telegram without seeing the screen.

Find the download links for the various Telegram apps at their website here.