Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Telegram’s latest update lets you sign up for the service without a SIM card.
- This feature uses anonymous phone numbers.
Telegram has a reputation for bringing many features to the table before WhatsApp, such as support for multiple accounts, channels, and more. Now the company has announced an update for privacy-conscious users.
The company announced in a blog post that the latest app update will let you sign up for a Telegram account without a SIM card. More specifically, you need to buy an anonymous phone number on the Fragment platform.
It is worth noting that these anonymous numbers can only be used in conjunction with Telegram. Nevertheless, this is still a pretty cool feature if for some reason (e.g. privacy) you don’t want to link your existing number to Telegram.
What else has the update brought?
This isn’t the only addition to Telegram as part of the new update. You also get automatic deletion functionality for all new chats, improved topic functionality in groups, an “aggressive anti-spam” mode for groups, and the ability to generate a temporary QR code for people to add you without a username or phone number.
Telegram also brings several emoji-related tweaks, such as emoji search on iOS, more custom emoji for Premium users, and more interactive emoji.
Finally, the company confirmed that the storage usage page in the Android app has undergone an overhaul in line with iOS. This means you can view storage usage per chat and delete entire types of media from a chat (for example, by deleting all videos in a chat).