Five years after discontinuing its Wear OS app, Telegram has reintroduced smartwatch functionality with its latest update, bringing dedicated apps to both Android Wear OS and Apple Watch devices.
The messaging platform had rolled out a new Apple Watch application earlier this week, followed by full Wear OS compatibility. This marks Telegram's return to Android smartwatches, and it now supports popular wearables like the Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch. These models did not exist during Telegram's previous Wear OS compatibility, when Galaxy Watch still ran on Tizen.
Telegram Smartwatch Apps: Key Features
Telegram's new smartwatch apps provide comprehensive access to chats and media directly from the wrist. Users can read length messages without needing their phone, hear voice messages, watch videos, and send text or voice replies even when their hands are occupied.
On Android, the app allows muting, pinning, and deleting chats, while the Apple Watch version currently offers location viewing and sticker sending. Telegram has promised to bring these features to Wear OS soon.
Other Capabilities
Beyond smartwatch support, the update delivers enhancements across platforms. Bots gain powerful rich text formatting capabilities, including tables, blockquotes, checklists, inline images, and support for messages up to 32,768 characters, with a “Show More” option after the initial segment.
In group chats, users can now make AI Guardian bots administrators for automated moderation. These bots can handle join requests, approve/reject members based on set rules, screen entries via mini-apps, and remove inappropriate messages.
Additional improvements include clickable links in poll options. Users can long-press links to select external browsers, set preferences for specific sites to always open externally, and control whether links launch in Telegram's built-in browser, which does not retain history.
The updates aim to enhance convenience for on-the-go users while expanding Telegram's automation and customisation tools. The new smartwatch apps are available now through the latest version of the main app.
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