Freda D. Cuevas
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Telegram’s latest update lets you sign up for the service without a SIM card.
- This feature takes advantage of anonymous phone numbers.
Telegram has a reputation for bringing plenty of features to the table ahead of WhatsApp, such as multiple account support, channels, and more. Now, the company has announced an update for privacy conscious users.
The company announced in a blog post that its latest app update will allow you to sign up for a Telegram account without a SIM card. More specifically, you’ll need to buy an anonymous phone number on the Fragment platform.
It’s worth noting that these anonymous numbers can only be used in conjunction with Telegram. Nevertheless, this is still a pretty cool feature if you don’t want to tie your existing number to Telegram for whatever reason (e.g. privacy).
What else did the update bring?
This isn’t the only addition to Telegram as part of the new update. You’re also getting auto-delete functionality for all new chats, improved topics functionality in groups, an “aggressive anti-spam” mode for groups, and the ability to generate a temporary QR code so people can add you without a username or phone number.
Telegram is also bringing various emoji-related tweaks, such as emoji search on iOS, more custom emoji for Premium users, and more interactive emoji.
Finally, the company confirmed that the storage usage page on the Android app has received an overhaul in line with iOS. This means you can view storage usage by chat as well as delete entire types of media from a chat (e.g. deleting all videos in a chat).
