Apple held up Telegram’s latest update over emoji

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Telegram released a new update on Frida,y a day after Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov said the update had been in Apple's app review for two weeks without explanation. The update has a lot of features, but one is missing due to Apple's request.

After extensive media coverage of my previous post, Apple got back to us with a demand to water down our pending Telegram update. This is a puzzling move on Apple's part, because Telemoji would have brought a new level of sophistication to the static low-resolution emoji.

The Telemoji can be seen in a short video that Durov shared. The Telemoji look like a lot of fun and I like how they add life to static faces. Apple might have asked Telegram to remove Telemoji from the update because it was modifying its designs in this manner. A request for comment from Apple and Telegram was not responded to.

Video from Pavel Durov, which I turned into a GIF

Other new improvements are included in the update. Telegram is offering 10 custom packs with more than 500 emoji to start, and users who subscribe to the $4.99 Premium service will be able to add and use custom emoji. The free users will be able to use the animated emoji in their saved messages.

The sticker panel on the mobile platform has been updated by Telegram to include separate tabs for stickers, GIFs, and emoji, similar to what you would find in Telegram on the mobile platform. The full list of updates can be found in Telegram.

There are more improvements to come. Telegram will allow users to add any custom emoji as a message reaction in a few weeks. I think that the more ways to use emoji the better.