Telegram Messenger looks to continue competing with the likes of LINE and WhatsApp for mindshare with their early January announcement of sticker support. Now, that feature has come to Windows Phone just 12 days later, ensuring platform parity.
Stickers in and of themselves are not new to messenger apps, although LINE and even Facebook Messenger have really caused them to take off in the last few months. However, Telegram has done things a bit differently with their iteration.
In a blog post from January 2, the company detailed their philosophy behind stickers. In short, they do not show up in the emoji listing until you type them, saving space. The other main difference is they tend to model historical figures, people the company looks up to as inspiration. It is a friendly nod, undoubtedly clever and a tad hilarious. Even better, since the stickers use the WebP format, users can create and add their own in addition to the initial 14 that Telegram include.
Full instructions and details about Telegram stickers can be found in their blog post.
Regarding today's 1.2 update, users merely need to tap the emoji button (not the one on the Windows Phone keyboard) and choosing a certain emoji will bring up the character/sticker (sometimes there will be more than one to choose from). Overall, it works well, and it is certainly novel.
Today's update follows one just days earlier, which enabled custom notification sounds.
Have you switched to Telegram Messenger yet? It is a robust application, although the same old problem exists of getting your friends to use it as well.
