Telegram to introduce Stories feature next month, CEO responds to user demand

You will be able to choose the duration of the Stories before it expires, "in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours" or even display them permanently on your profile. (Image: Reuters)

Instant Messaging (IM) service Telegram will be adding its take on Stories to the platform next month.

CEO Pavel Durov announced that Stories was one of the most requested features by users writing in a post that, "More than half of all feature requests that we receive are related to Stories."

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The platform had so far resisted adding Stories since they were, "already everywhere" but eventually relented because "Telegram wouldn't be Telegram if we didn't listen to our users and didn't innovate on existing formats."

Telegram's Stories will allow users to add captions that allow them to add context or links as well as tag other users.

The service will allow you to share Stories with all contacts, make them public, or select from a list of close friends or individual contacts.

Like Meta's Stories implementation in Messenger, they will be placed in an expandable list at the top of your conversations. Users will have the option to hide stories by moving them to a "Hidden" list. You can also create Stories using both phone cameras simultaneously.

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You will be able to choose the duration of the Stories before it expires, "in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours" or even display them permanently on your profile.

Currently, Telegram is testing the feature and expects the rollout to begin in early July.