400 Million Users, 20,000 Stickers, Quizzes 2.0 and €400K for Creators of Educational Tests

Telegram has reached 400,000,000 monthly users, up from 300 million a year ago.

Every day at least 1.5 million new users sign up for Telegram. Features like folders, cloud storage and desktop support make Telegram ideal for remote work and study during the quarantine. It's no wonder Telegram is the #1 most downloaded social media application in over 20 countries – people all over the world are switching to Telegram at an accelerating pace.

When we started Telegram 7 years ago, we assumed that people will always choose freedom and quality over restrictions and mediocrity. As the gap in popularity between Telegram and its older competitors narrows, we find more and more validity in that original assumption. Thank you for being smart and free!

What's next, you might ask? The current global lockdown highlighted the need for a trusted video communication tool. Video calls in 2020 are much like messaging in 2013. There are apps that are either secure or usable, but not both. We'd like to fix that, and we will focus on bringing you secure group video calls in 2020.

When will they be ready? You'll be the first to know when we're done, promise. So stop asking.

Better Quizzes

We added Quiz Mode to Telegram Polls back in January, allowing users to flex their trivia muscles. In recent weeks, we witnessed a surge of more serious educational tests and quizzes created using @QuizBot. Today's update upgrades quizzes with educational features.

You can now add explanations that appear as users respond to quiz questions, helping them learn from their mistakes, or giving them more context. Explanations make Telegram quizzes suitable not only for testing knowledge — but also for spreading it.

For example, update the app and try this test on Telegram History and Features.

When you create a quiz via @QuizBot, you can set a timer for questions. Timers add to the competitive element of Telegram quizzes, which are often used for exam preparation in student group chats. With the new countdown animation, everyone can see how much time they have left.

€400K for Creators of Educational Tests

With 2 billion students currently away from schools, the world is in dire need of online educational tools. We’d like to contribute to solving this problem by creating a database of educational tests for all subjects and levels. To do that, today we’re announcing a crowd-sourcing initiative in which we will distribute EUR 400,000 among creators of educational tests.

To take part, use @QuizBot to create and publish an original educational test on any subject at any difficulty level, in any language. Feel free to choose anything from basic Medieval European History in English to Mikrobiologie für Experten auf Deutsch – and add any media you require to your questions, but make sure all intellectual property rights are respected.

We will publish the quizzes you submit in a searchable directory. Based on their quality and popularity we will then announce the winners in several stages. Submissions for the first stage end on May 15.

Subscribe to the @contest channel for updates on this and other competitions we run. Last year alone, we distributed 2 Million Euro among the winners of our contests.

20,000 Stickers

While Telegram has been the go-to place for stickers since they first came out, until today there wasn’t an easy way to see all the best stickers all at once. Meet the new sticker directory, where you can browse and search the over 20,000 high-quality free Telegram stickers created in the last 5 years.

If you have a particular set in mind, you can find it via search, or if you feel like taking a trip through the Museum of Sticker History, you can scroll through the list and go all the way from today's trends to the first Sticker Sapiens that walked the earth.

New Attachment Menu on Android

On Android, all sections of the attachment menu are now accessible as expandable layers, making the menu sleek, chic, and easier to use. Also, don't miss the cute animated icons.

macOS Improvements

Users of Telegram for macOS can now access Shared Media straight from the redesigned profile pages. Those who have a lot of Folders may like the new folder sidebar with icons in the style of Telegram Desktop.

By the way, this screenshot was created using the updated in-app photo editor which now allows you to draw on pictures when sending or editing:

Bullseye

To accompany the animated emoji from last update, you can now take a shot at throwing animated darts in any chat to see who hits the bullseye first.

We hope you like this update – all 400,000,000 of you.