Telegram makes its app run better on older phones

Telegram’s rapid pace of update makes it one of the best messaging apps out there. In early February, the team rolled out a significant update for the app enabling you to translate entire conversations at the tap of a button. Just over a month after the release, Telegram has dropped v9.5 of their messaging client with a new power saving mode that promises to improve the app’s performance on older devices. Other enhancements in the latest build include granular control over media playback speed, read receipts with time in smaller groups, and more.

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram packs a lot more animations and effects that help deliver a superior chatting experience. Despite being optimized, these animations can feel sluggish on older phones with low-end hardware. It can also have an adverse effect on your phone’s battery life.

So, Telegram v9.5 is introducing a new Power Saving Mode that disables resource-intensive tasks like auto-playing GIFs, animations, stickers, and emoji to save battery life. There are individual toggles for each specific effect as well. Further, you can set the power saving mode to automatically trigger when your phone’s battery falls below a certain level.

Another handy improvement in Telegram v9.5 is the media player gaining granular playback speed adjustment capabilities. So, you can set any playback speed between 0.2x – 2.5x for videos, voice notes, video messages, and other media content. Until now, you could only select from one of the predefined playback speeds.

To ensure your friends can’t give an excuse that they saw your message late, Telegram will show detailed read receipts, including the time each person viewed the message in small groups of up to 100 people. Such read receipts are unavailable in larger groups, where you are limited to seeing who has read the messages.

Another group-related change is the ability to automatically send a group invite link to a person who has restricted who can add them to groups.

If you are a Telegram premium user, this update introduces 10 new custom emoji packs for you to spam your friends with. The company also notes in its announcement that Telegram v9.5 should be more stable and bug-free than before, as the team has squashed over 400 known issues in this release.

There are plenty of other changes in Telegram v9.5, and you can find a complete list of the changes in the company’s blog post. You can grab the Telegram v9.5 update from the Play Store or APK Mirror.

Thanks: Nick!