Telegram Info English

2022-01-15 16:25:41 Telegram for iOS got an 8.4.1 version update

— The animation which follows after you put a reaction has been reduced in size and length. Optionally, you can touch and hold any of the reactions to enjoy a full-fledged animation.
— Animated icons in the navbar. When you click on each of the four icons, you can see an animation.
— Redesigned screens for clearing cache and setting a local PIN.
— New contact sorting section interface.

#iOS Open / Comment

2022-01-15 14:27:33 Telegram's 2021 Achievements

The App Annie analytics company published a new report called "State of Mobile 2022" regarding mobile apps popularity and mobile services market development worldwide.

According to the bulletin, after closing the last year we can conclude that Telegram made these achievements:

— Telegram is 5th most downloaded app in the world.
— Telegram has 7th biggest monthly active users base worldwide.
— Telegram is 2nd most downloaded app in Russia, only losing to TikTok.
— The only country where Telegram is 1st most downloadable app is Spain.

#statistics Open / Comment

2022-01-13 19:33:20 Telegram may be blocked in Germany in case of non-compliance with legal requirements

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser warned about disabling the work of the Telegram messenger in case of failure to comply with the requirements of the laws of the country. Such a move may be taken as a "last resort" if other means of dealing with the problem fail. At the same time, Feser notes that Germany alone has no chance to resolve the situation, so a pan-European decision is required on this matter.

As we wrote earlier German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann warned that Telegram could face millions of fines for violating German law.

At the end of December, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, drew attention to the statements of German officials regarding Telegram. Open / Comment

2022-01-12 13:32:34 Telegram filed for enforcement of fines in the amount of $147.000

The bailiffs opened new cases against Telegram on the enforcement of fines, for a total of $147.000, because it refused to remove content prohibited in the Russian Federation.

According to the data bank of the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), based on the decision of the Tagansky Court of Moscow dated December 20 2021, three enforcement proceedings were initiated against the company to collect $76,000, $27,000 and $54,000 in fines.

As reported, in mid-December 2021, Telegram fully paid off the debt in fines for the amount of $200,000.

#fines Open / Comment

2022-01-11 18:15:44 Database leak at @LivegramBot

Recently a popular feedback bot reported a database leak. The bot is commonly used for anonymous feedback to Telegram channel administrators. To protect the bots, all linked bot tokens will be revoked by the Telegram team.

To keep your bot working as before, you need to manually update the tokens for all Livegram bots in @BotFather and in @LivegramBot settings. If you won't do this, your bot will stop working soon.

What should the bot owners do:

1. Open @BotFather, send /mybots command.

2. Choose your bot from the list.

3. Tap API Token, then Revoke current token. After that, send the new token to @LivegramBot. Open / Comment

2022-01-11 02:25:08 Telegram fixed Reproducible Builds on Android

Earlier we reported that few latest versions of Telegram for Android couldn't be verified to be compiled from the official source code, since Reproducible Builds were broken by developers' mistake.

Version 8.4.3 fixes reproducibility: we were able to verify that installation packages for Telegram for Android from telegram.org and Google Play use the source code published in the official repository.

This means the Telegram developers didn't add any hidden functionality that would be missing in source code. Open / Comment

2022-01-07 00:15:22 Telegram works on message translation through its own servers

The new API schema data on the Telegram website indicates that in future versions of the messenger, translations will be made through the Telegram servers. In the current version of the application, translation on iOS is done via Apple Translator, and on Android — by direct requests to Google Translate. The language of the message is detected on-device.

According to Durov's Code, Google Translate in Telegram for Android is used in a quirky way, with a workaround to not pay the service fee, as a temporary measure, while the messenger team is working on translation through their servers.

What technology will be used is still unknown. Language detection will most likely continue to be on-device. Open / Comment

2022-01-06 21:21:40 Telegram for Android builds don't match the source code

A developer of Nekogram, an unofficial Telegram app modification, complains Reproducible Builds are broken for the Android app. According to the developer, the issue persists for multiple versions in a row.

Telegram Info made a build by following the guide and confirms the statement: the produced APK files don't match official builds from Google Play and the official website.

Reproducible Builds allow you to stay sure the source code actually matches the distributed app from Google Play and the official website. If the builds match, it means the Telegram team has provided full source code and didn't add hidden functionality.

It's likely that Reproducible Builds were broken accidentally and will be fixed in future. Open / Comment

2022-01-06 11:03:52 Malicious software pretends to be a Telegram Desktop Installer

Minerva Lab, an Israel cyber security company, reported a new variant of the Purple Fox rootkit virus. This malicious software family was originally detected in 2018. Most of infected devices are used to infect more devices, or in DDoS attacks. The newfound variant pretends to be a Telegram Desktop installer that installs the mentioned rootkit in background.

The virus didn't affect the official Telegram downloads, it only spreads on unofficial websites. This incident serves as a reminder to download software only from official websites.

The only official downloads for Telegram Desktop are on the desktop.telegram.org website, Microsoft Store, Mac App Store and GitHub. Open / Comment

2022-01-03 16:57:31 Default Telegram Channel Administrator Rights You Should Know About

Recently, Telegram bots dev wrote (in Russian) about the problem in his own blog. So, any channel administrator (bot or user with minimal rights) can block the entire audience of the channel.

«At least this post was written so that you know that you cannot add all bots in a row to the channel, but only those you trust and whose creators have a reputation. I would also like the administration of the messenger to add separate rights for the ability to ban channel members with bots, as is done in groups. If possible, inform your friends' channel administrators about this», — the blog says.

All channel administrators can see the last 200 subscribers, the entire list of admins and recent actions in the channel, so it can also be considered the default rights.

Telegram Info editors warn: be careful and never add unverified bots or users to the list of administrators of your chat or channel. Open / Comment