Telegram Gets Smartwatch Apps, AI Moderators, and a Big Upgrade for Bots: Here's Everything New

Telegram has dropped another feature-heavy update, and this one touches almost every corner of the app.

The biggest addition is probably smartwatch support. If you've ever wanted to check messages, reply to chats, or listen to voice notes without pulling out your phone, Telegram now has dedicated apps for both Apple Watch and Wear OS devices.

But that's only part of the update. Telegram is also giving group admins new AI tools, expanding what bots can do, and adding a few smaller quality-of-life changes that regular users might actually notice day to day.

Telegram Finally Comes to Smartwatches

Telegram has supported plenty of platforms over the years, but smartwatches have been a noticeable gap.

That's changing with this update.

The new Apple Watch and Wear OS apps let users send messages, listen to voice notes, browse media, view locations, and keep up with conversations directly from their wrist. For people who already use a smartwatch to handle notifications, it means fewer reasons to reach for their phone.

Group Admins Are Getting AI Help

Managing large Telegram groups can get messy pretty quickly, especially when you're dealing with spam, fake accounts, or endless join requests.

Telegram's answer is something called AI Guardians.

These AI-powered bots can be assigned to groups and used as an extra layer between applicants and the community itself. Admins can set up custom screening flows and have the bot handle some of the routine moderation work before a user is allowed in.

It's essentially Telegram giving communities another tool to automate tasks that would otherwise be handled manually.

Telegram Bots Just Became More Capable

Bots have always been one of Telegram's strongest features, and this update gives developers a lot more room to work with.

Bot messages can now include things like tables, collapsible sections, headings, image carousels, footnotes, mathematical formulas, and other formatting options that previously weren't available.

Telegram has also raised the character limit for bot messages to 32,768 characters, which should make long-form responses and AI-powered assistants easier to build.

A Few Smaller Changes You'll Probably Notice

There are a couple of smaller additions tucked into the update as well.

Poll creators can now add clickable links directly inside poll options, which could be useful for communities that want to provide extra context before members vote.

Telegram's built-in browser has also gained support for Markdown files, allowing users to open and read .md documents without leaving the app.

Another change gives users more control over links. You can now decide which websites should always open inside Telegram and which ones should automatically launch in your preferred browser.