The latest beta version of Telegram now reportedly supports Siri’s ‘Announce Messages‘ feature, making it the first third-party app to support the functionality that was originally announced at WWDC 2020 earlier this year.
The feature is already supported by a number of first-party apps and services from Apple, including Messages and Home. However, given that the API is also available for all developers, it should only be a matter of time before more third-party apps and services incorporate the new functionality in the days to come.
Thanks to the incoming update to Telegram beta on iOS and iPadOS, Apple’s virtual digital assistant will now be able to read out and reply to messages from the popular messaging service even when the device itself – whether an iPhone or an iPad – is locked. As part of the plan, Siri will first play a tune to inform the user of a new message in the inbox before reading out the sender’s name and the message itself. Users can then also reply to that message using Siri.
Announce Messages is compatible with iOS 13.2 and latter, but users will only be able to use it with Apple’s own headphones and earphones, including AirPods, AirPods Pro, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro and Beats Solo Pro.
Telegram is the first and only third-party service that supports the feature right now, but we should expect other developers to incorporate it into their own apps at some stage. Meanwhile, it is only available on the latest Telegram beta, with no word on when it will be rolled out to the stable version of the app.
