Telegram, the popular secure messaging app, has pushed out a new update that brings animated stickers to the platform. With animated stickers, Telegram is hoping to make conversations more fun and expressive, while still keeping bandwidth usage to a minimum.
According to the Telegram blog, the company wanted to bring animated stickers in a way that would not only use less bandwidth, but would still look great and have smooth animations. To do this, the developers created a new .TGS format for animated stickers that take only around 20 to 30 kilobytes per sticker — six times less than an average photo.
In its official blog announcing the new feature, the Telegram Team also claims that these new TGS animated stickers consume less battery than GIFs and are smoother, with 60FPS animations.
If you’re interested in using animated stickers right away, Telegram artists have created some cute and fun animated sticker packs that you can add to your app right away (make sure you’ve updated it though). There’s the Resistance Dog sticker pack, the Rambunctious Rodents, and Sentient Snacks that you can add to your conversations right away. Also, once you’ve added these stickers to your app, searching for them is easy. You can simply type in a relevant emoji and the app will automatically suggest animated stickers accordingly.
What’s more, the TGS format is open, so anyone can create their own animated stickers, and if that’s something you’re interested in, you can go through this official guide to create your own animated sticker pack.
