Telegram announced at the beginning of June the future availability of Telegram Premium, a service that gives users the possibility of accessing exclusive functions and features in exchange for paying a monthly fee, something that, in addition, will allow the company to obtain income directly from users, and not by advertisers. Now, this new version of the messaging service is available to all users at a price of about 5 euros per month, and with advantages that go far beyond those previously leaked or announced.

Telegram Premium, specifically, is available for $4.99 per month in the United States and €5.49 per month in Spain. The subscription service, for the moment, is only available on iOS —although it will come to Android soon— and includes up to 11 features and improvements. Among them, are the possibility of uploading files twice the size; going from 2 GB to a maximum of 4 GB, a faster content download mode than the free version, and an option to send exclusive stickers and reactions that, fortunately, users with the free plan will be able to see, but not share.

These are some of the features previously leaked and confirmed by Telegram. The premium plan, however, has other really interesting features that could be especially useful for users who use the app frequently.

Enhanced chat management, transcription of voice notes, and more are all included in Telegram Premium

One of them is the possibility of transcribing voice notes to convert them into text messages; a function that WhatsApp also seems to be working on, and that will allow you to instantly know the content of a message without having to listen to it. Telegram Premium also offers double the space to host groups and channels, pinned chats, public links, folders, etc., within the app. Namely; with the free service, for example, users can only subscribe to a maximum of 500 channels. With the premium plan, however, the maximum increases to 1,000. Telegram Premium also allows you to manage and organize chats more completely.

Another improvement of Telegram Premium is the possibility of verifying those people who are paying the monthly fee for the service. The app, in particular, will display a small star-shaped icon that will appear next to the username at all times, including in the list of recent chats.

As for personalization, Telegram includes the possibility of adding stickers as a profile image or including an animated GIF-type image that free users will also be able to see. On the other hand, the app allows premium users to modify the icon that is displayed on the home screen for different designs. Telegram Premium, of course, is ad-free: the app will not show ads in the channels, as it does -albeit rarely- in the channels.

Finally, you can join Telegram’s premium service

Telegram Premium, remember, is available in Spain for 5.49 euros per month. Those users who use the Phone can already subscribe to the plan through the app itself. Users with an Android device, unfortunately, will have to wait a little longer. But how is it activated?

First of all, it is necessary to update the application, since Telegram Premium is available from version 8.8. To do this, go to the App Store, click on your account icon, and slide to the updates section. Finally, update the app. Once you have the latest version installed, access the Telegram application and go to the ‘Settings’ tab. Finally, click on ‘Telegram Premium’ and click on the ‘Subscribe’ button that appears at the bottom of the screen.