Money down the drain. Telegram Premium subscription for 450 rubles is a complete failure

On the night of 19 to 20 June Telegram launched a paid subscription. This time, he not only confirmed the plans to launch it, but made it available to everyone. At least on iOS. Despite the fact that users from Russia have almost no opportunities to pay for software and paid subscriptions in the App Store, Telegram Premium, as the subscription was dubbed, is still available here. You can even subscribe to it if you install the latest update. In this article, we will understand how paid subscription to Telegramwhat it offers, how much it costs and whether it is worth it at all.

ПОДПИШИСЬ НА НАШ ЯНДЕКС.ДЗЕН. ТАМ ТЫ НАЙДЁШЬ ВСЁ, ЧТО МОЖЕТ БЫТЬ ИНТЕРЕСНО

As expected, Telegram Premium is not a standalone app, but just a paid service available in the desktop app. It offers an expanded range of features compared to free access. Looking ahead, I will say that the team of Pavel Durov turned out to be something unintelligible, completely unwilling to subscribe to it for money. But first things first.

Telegram Premium – what gives

Telegram Premium gives you a number of privileges that are not available to users of the free plan:

• Send files up to 4 GB (up to 2 GB for free);
• Faster download of videos and other files;
• Ability to subscribe to 1000 channels (500 in the free version);
• 20 chat folders and 10 pinned chats;
• A set of unique stickers with full-screen animation;
• Translation of voice messages into text;
• More than 10 new emoji for message reactions;
• Ability to assign a folder with chats by default;
• Always active profile video avatars;
• Premium subscriber badge (star next to the profile icon);
• Exclusive desktop application icons;
• Disable ads in channels.

If you can’t wait to find out, how much does telegram premium costthen know what will be asked of you 449 rubles per month. It seems that this is one of the few cases when a subscription is more expensive for Russia than for the United States, where Telegram Premium priced at $4.99 per month.

ПОДПИСЫВАЙСЯ НА НАШ ЧАТИК В ТЕЛЕГРАМЕ. ТАМ ТЫ ПОЛУЧИШЬ ОТВЕТЫ НА ВСЕ СВОИ ВОПРОСЫ

That is, Durov not only did not reduce subscription cost for developing countries, but also made it higher, which is completely atypical for this type of service. Indeed, with direct conversion, it turns out that for the Russian market, a subscription costs not 4 or even 5, but almost 8 dollars.

Telegram Premium – how to subscribe

Subscribe to Telegram Premium so far only possible on iOS and only after installing the latest update:

• Download the current version of Telegram from the App Store;
• Launch the application and open “Settings”;

• Scroll down and select the Telegram Premium tab;
• Click “Connect for 449 R per month” and confirm your subscription.

Вы можете подписаться на Телеграм Премиум со скидкой за 379 рублей через бота PremiumBot. Это официальный бот, разработанный создателями мессенджера, который проводит платёж напрямую, позволяя вам не платить комиссию Apple.

The value of the Telegram Premium privileges themselves, frankly, is rather doubtful. More or less valuable from a practical point of view here is perhaps the ability to upload files up to 4 GB. Another thing is that even this most likely will not be very useful to the majority.

Still Telegram – this is not a cloud for you, although it is trying hard to mow under it. When rumors about a premium subscription first appeared, I assumed that the developers would do something similar, but I was sure that they would integrate into the application separate section for cloud managementbut this was never implemented.

Paid subscription to Telegram – is it necessary

Perhaps it would be worth highlighting the function translate messages into text. But we have already said that Telegram has a cool bot from Sber that does this almost perfectly. It recognizes even slang expressions and parasitic words, transcribing speech exactly in the form in which it was transmitted by voice. We talked about how it works in a separate article – be sure to read it, it will come in handy.

All other innovations look very far-fetched. After all, in fact, all this is complete “cosmetics” that has no practical use. I understand that all these video avatars, premium subscriber badgesadditional stickers and reactions are needed in order to show that this particular user is paying money for a subscription.

But does it make any practical sense? I believe that none of your interlocutors will even pay attention to this. At best, they will ask how they can put the same star next to their nickname.

ПОДПИШИСЬ НА ТЕЛЕГРАМ-КАНАЛ СУНДУК АЛИБАБЫ, ЧТОБЫ ПОКУПАТЬ ТОЛЬКО ЛУЧШИЕ ТОВАРЫ С АЛИЭКСПРЕСС

There is an opinion that Telegram Premiumlike YouTube Premium, was built around the feature disabling ads, and the rest of the chips were added only insofar as. It turned out to be something like a gesture of goodwill, when users are invited to legally hide all ads by paying some kind of compensation for this, and in addition to receive pleasant bonuses in the form of removed restrictions.

The idea certainly deserves attention. Another question is how much Durov decided to charge for this idea. It is unlikely that there will be too many people from among Russians who are ready to pay 449 rubles on an ongoing basis. Much more logical, in my opinion, would be to provide for a regional coefficient, allowing users from Russia to pay, say, 150 rubles per month. In this case, I have no doubt, there would be much more people willing to deposit money just like that, out of a desire to support their favorite messenger. Now, unfortunately, there is no such desire.