Telegram gets updated: here are the new 8 features

Pavel Durov's messaging platform continues to evolve. With version 5.13, new features are added, such as support for podcasts

The year 2020 starts with a bang for Telegram. The instant messaging platform alternative to WhatsApp has in fact recently released version 5.13 of the app for smartphones, with several graphical and functional innovations that will further improve the user experience of the platform and make it even more multifunctional.

Seeing the new features introduced with the latest update, in fact, it seems that Telegram aims to look more like WeChat than WhatsApp. The Chinese platform, in fact, for some time has been transformed from a "simple" chat to a kind of operating system "alternative" to the one installed on your smartphone. Pavel Durov's creature, just to make an example, will allow to manage in a more personalized way the audio files of long duration, thus transforming itself (also) in a player for podcasts. In short, we are faced with an increasingly versatile and mature product, which instead of waging war on WhatsApp on its own ground (that of messaging), is trying to get around the obstacle by "creating" its own market niche.

Telegram 5.13, the new features introduced by the update

In addition to some technical improvements, Telegram 5.13 introduces a long list of new features. For example, it will be easier to share your location, being able to choose a place of interest directly on the map; you can schedule messages to be sent to contacts, so that they receive them as soon as they are online; support for audiobooks and podcasts is added, with automatic playback from the point where you had stopped and the ability to play them at double speed whenever you want.

On Android, on the other hand, it becomes easier to switch between "light mode" and dark mode thanks to the introduction of an ad hoc command in the platform's menu. With the early 2020 update, users will also be able to customize the graphical appearance of Telegram's themes. New gradients and backgrounds have been added for chats and the platform, so it can be made even more "personal" and unique.