It's currently available to a very limited number of users, but will expand in the future. Back in early March, it emerged that WhatsApp would be launching...
Signal and Telegram both offer comparable functionality without mandatory recurring fees
Telegram introduced a subscription named Telegram Premium a few years ago. You get similar functionality there – setting colors to your profile or groups that you’re part of, custom emojis (including animated ones), custom stickers, an indicator that you’re on Premium, custom profile statuses, increased limits for sending files, etc. There’s a lot more, I just listed some off the top of my head. They’ve been pushing people into Premium. Telegram is perfectly usable without that, of course. My favorite Premium feature is that you can require unknown senders to pay a fee to be able to send you a message :D Meanwhile, non-Premium users can get spammed normally.
Telegram introduced a subscription named Telegram Premium a few years ago. You get similar functionality there – setting colors to your profile or groups that you’re part of, custom emojis (including animated ones), custom stickers, an indicator that you’re on Premium, custom profile statuses, increased limits for sending files, etc. There’s a lot more, I just listed some off the top of my head. They’ve been pushing people into Premium. Telegram is perfectly usable without that, of course. My favorite Premium feature is that you can require unknown senders to pay a fee to be able to send you a message :D Meanwhile, non-Premium users can get spammed normally.
That’s… Amazing. It’s been awhile since I had a glimpse into how others experience the web. Wow.
I only use web API vendors that support open source clients - so I always get
100%most of those features for free.Edit: Except “increased limits for sending files”.