Telegram Beta 8.4 for Android: Hide Spoilers, React with Emoji

The two features that popular sites have but most messengers lack were spoilers (for text hidden from you until you confirm you want to read it) and Facebook-like emoji reactions. Telegram for Android now has them both. So far, though, it’s only in the Beta version, so if you want to try them now, prepare that your new favorite messenger may work unstably.

The first of these features is irreplaceable in public chats when you reveal a spoiler of a movie, a TV show, or a game some are familiar with, and some are not. To hide some text, you need to select and long-tap it, and then in the pop-up menu choose the “Spoiler” option. As you send your message under this formatting, it will only become readable when the recipient taps it to reveal the text. That’s the way it works on many popular sites, first of all, forums and social media.

Another innovation is also inspired by social media, namely by Facebook. Now you can react to the message with one of the eleven emojis that are preselected by Telegram itself. After you reply with such a reaction, the sender can see the animation. Well, it looks much more alive than the iMessage, Facebook, or Messenger versions of the same idea.

The messenger that gained much popularity in 2021 is constantly introducing new features that first appear in its beta versions. No wonder these arrive at a different time on different platforms. While on iOS, Telegram Beta has had these two new things for a while, on Android they are just about to arrive. On the other hand, when they make it to the new release, it will happen simultaneously on all the platforms, as it happened earlier.

Do you use Telegram? Do you find it better than WhatsApp, Messenger, and its likes? Which Telegram features do you value the most? Let’s have a conversation about it in the comments!