Telegram gets Stories

Chat app Telegram gets Stories. These appear behind a separate menu that can be called up in the UI. Users can link Stories to their profile and determine how long and by whom they can be seen.

The Stories are coming ‘soon’, but it is not known exactly when, says Telegram founder Pavel Durov in a post on his own channel. That should happen sometime in early July. According to Durov, Stories were a much-requested feature; more than half of the requests to developers would concern this feature.

Durov has shared a concept of what the Stories will look like. They look a lot like what most story features in other apps look like. Users can see them by clicking Chats at the top of the app, and a horizontal bar will expand with Stories from friends. It is also possible to create your own Stories there. Users can provide them with captions and it is possible to use both the front and rear cameras for a Story.

As with most other Stories features, Telegram also makes it possible to determine who can see the posts. This could be anyone, but also just friends in a contact list or a few specifically indicated contacts. It will also be possible to determine how long Stories will remain available. This can be for a period of 6, 12, 24 or 48 hours, or permanently.