Skip to main content

Telegram releases major update for iOS built on Swift with improved speed, notifications, more

Telegram is out today with a big iOS update. The latest release has been rebuilt with Apple’s Swift and offers users improved speed, battery efficiency, in-app notifications, and more.

Announced in a blog post, Telegram shared that his has rewritten its popular encrypted iOS messaging app from the ground up with Swift. While the update doesn’t change the UI, it offers a variety of improvements.

Today Telegram 5.0 goes live for all our iOS users, becoming the most popular messaging app written fully in Swift. This new version of Telegram looks just like the old one, but is slicker, more battery-friendly and faster (which is surprising, given how fast the old one already was).

The update features smooth animation in chats, improved syncing speeds, and the new notifications work anywhere in the app.

The new expandable in-app notifications will help you focus on whatever you‘re doing in the app without having to ignore incoming messages. When a notification arrives, pull it down to open the relevant chat. When you’re done with the interruption, simply close it to get right back to what you were doing.

Version 5.0 also brings changes to the how the unread message counter works.

The unread counter now shows the number of unmuted chats with unread messages. So instead of 1001 for a thousand messages in a muted group and one very important message from your dog, your badge counter will look like this:

Telegram also squashed bugs in the latest update and the macOS app now has swipe gestures, Touch Bar support and more. For all the details check out the release notes.

It’s unclear if Telegram X will be retired at this point, with the majority of improvements for the standard Telegram app seemingly stemming from that project.

Telegram is a free download from the App Store.


Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.


Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications