A while ago, Telegram decided to launch a version of their popular messaging app and they gave it a cool moniker: Telegram X. We are not sure if we are supposed to pronounce it as Telegram ‘ex’ or ‘ten’ but essentially, Telegram is pitching this as an experimental fork of the messaging app.
Apparently Telegram bought an alternative client called Challegram which they acquired and turned into Telegram X.
It is currently available on iOS and Android and you might be wondering what new things you are getting with X compared to the regular version. I’ll be comparing the Android versions.
Home user interface
Telegram X has a slightly different home user interface when compared to the regular Telegram app. The regular Telegram app has the dedicated calls option on the menu. On Telegram X, chats and calls are separated by tabs, which is something you see on WhatsApp.
In addition, the swipe right menu is different on Telegram X where it features the classic material design menu and has less options than what we find on the regular Telegram.
Telegram X also feels noticeably faster than the regular Telegram thanks to its fluid animations.
Night Mode and Bubbles Mode
There is also a dedicated Night mode tab which you can access via the menu. This is quite cool and it works very well with OLED screens. There is no night mode on the regular app, but you can change your theme within settings to dark for a similar effect. There is also an automatic night mode which uses the light sensor to seamlessly transition between night mode and the regular theme colour.
On Telegram X, there is a Bubbles Mode toggle which emulates the standard way of viewing messages in text bubble form. This is standard on the regular Telegram app, but you can turn it off on the X variant and have the posts appear in a straight line.
Tabbed Saved Messages
A cool feature embedded in Telegram X is found within Saved Messages. Saved Messages is used by people to save stuff like posts, documents or media and this is tabbed on Telegram X. This makes it easier to locate your saved posts. On the regular Telegram app, you are forced to tap on the Saved Messages icon then tap on the drop down menu to access the tabs, which is an extra step too many.
Advanced Mode
Telegram X also features an Advanced mode which has a host of new features. They range from swiping actions to hiding keyboards to showing forward otions and many more.
New gestures
Long pressing chats and channels reveals a preview of them. This gesture only reveals a pin, delete, clear history or leave channel options in the regular Telegram Messenger. This gesture also allows you to pin chats (a maximum of 5 like the regular Telegram Messenger).
There is also another gesture that enables you to create a new chat/group/channel/secret chat. Just hold onto the compose button at the bottom right and the options will appear. On the regular Telegram app, you only needed to tap on the compose button to do the above.
