In all seriousness, a paid version of the app has been on the horizon for some time and there has been much anticipation with regards to what exclusive features will be gated for non-subscribers. Only the iOS beta version has been launched (at least for now), hence iPhone users will be the first to get a glimpse of what’s new.
For the time being, it seems that new sets of stickers and exclusive reactions to messages will be amongst the perks subscribers will benefit from. Apart from these cute, but mostly cosmetic features, there is little additional information on what else could come with the premium version of Telegram.
Reception of the new service has been, at best, mixed. For once, there is virtually no information on the expected price. Ultimately, a great deal of the response to the premium features will depend on what Telegram will be asking for in return. A steep price could make or break the service.
Another major source of discontent has been the way in which ordinary users will interact with subscriber-exclusive features. Currently, if a premium user tries to react to a message sent by a non-premium one, the latter will not see the reaction at all. Instead, they will only be prompted to subscribe.
It is precisely these types of poor choices that could jeopardize Telegram’s long-term goal of starting to generate revenue. Previously, the company suffered backlash because of its decision to implement ads in its service.
In general, monetisation of free services is a tricky subject. A fine line must be maintained between adding additional features and keeping the user base relatively content. For the time being, it is unclear whether Telegram will preserve said balance.
