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Messaging app Telegram will introduce some premium features for its 500 million active users in 2021, founder Pavel Durov said in a statement.
The paid features will cater to business users and power users, while regular users will continue to enjoy free service. Durov did not reveal what features would be charged.
Telegram will earn revenue starting next year, Durov stated. One-to-one private messaging will remain ad-free, he added.
The Dubai-based social network will also roll out an Ad Platform for one-to-many channels that will allow channel owners to monetise and receive free traffic in proportion to their size.
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Additionally, if Telegram introduces premium stickers with additional expressive features, the artists curating the stickers will also get their share of the profit, Durov noted.
At present, channel owners display ads within chats and look like regular messages.
The messaging app also introduced several features for Android users on Wednesday. This includes the voice chat overlay feature that allows users to browse the app while remaining connected to the voice call.
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Other features include moving app date from internal storage to external SD card and fast-loading stickers, new animated emojis and chat folders. Telegram iOS users can now also enable Siri to read incoming messages aloud in their headphone.
