Several fresh interactive elements have been added to the popular messaging app

Telegram is ending 2021 with a bang! The popular messaging platform has updated its app with a bunch of cool, new features for both Android and iOS.

As per GSM Arena, ‘Reactions’ are now part of the app - and if you’ve ever used Facebook Messenger you know how these work. The difference is that in Telegram you press and hold on iOS for the reaction emoji picker, and tap once on Android.

On both platforms, double-tapping a message sends a quick thumbs-up reaction.

You can change the default double-tap reaction to something else in Settings. Reactions are always on in private chats, while in groups and channels it’s up to admins whether they get turned on or not (as well as picking which reaction emoji are available).

The new Spoiler formatting lets you hide spoilers. You just select the spoiler-infested part of your message and mark it as such. This will then be hidden from the message in the chat, as well as in the chat list and in notifications. To see what’s hidden, simply tap the spoiler to reveal its text.

A new dedicated translate button can be added to the context menu when selecting a message, and this works on all Android devices as well as iOS 15+ on Apple devices. The list of available languages depends on your phone’s software.

You can theme the QR code for your (or someone else’s) profile, by choosing the colours and pattern. There are newly redesigned context menus on macOS with animated icons too.

Finally, new interactive versions are available for some emoji - like the snowflake, for example. Sending this will make it snow on the screen. There are others too. These are available in 1-on-1 chats only.